thedrifter
04-11-03, 07:46 AM
Article ran : 04/11/2003
Youth among us are now heroes
DAILY NEWS STAFF
How many times in the course of history has the older generation worried that coming generations would prove incapable of handling their own lives, much less the affairs of the world?
It seems like just yesterday when these newly minted adults were young kids, in high school or college, easing into adulthood like noisy puppies, awkwardly trying to fit into their new roles as grown-up men and women.
This rite of passage has caused many to wonder out loud what the younger generation is coming to.
British philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead touched upon this generational gulf when he observed, “The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.”
These untested young men and women — Marines and sailors, piling up in line to secure an order of fries and a hamburger, sitting at the stoplight with their car stereos booming or simply out with a frequently noisy and irreverent group of friends — can be found nearly everywhere in Onslow County.
Transplanted in an area with limited opportunities for those who aren’t settled with families, they go the beach and hang out at the mall and fast-food restaurants, or drive around in their cars and walk along the road with their fellow service members.
To some, the exuberance of youth casts them as self-centered and in need of a catalyst to force them into maturity. For, as Whitehead noted, most have not yet negotiated the mine fields of the real world, not yet discovered how fate can unexpectedly tap one on the shoulder and adjust life’s course.
But all that changed on a recent day in March. Whitehead’s tragedy played out many times over as these same kids proved their mettle halfway around the world.
Many of the young people normally found in stores and restaurants now carry loaded rifles, dodge bullets and make instantaneous life-or-death decisions. They have passed from youth to shoulder the heaviest burdens of adulthood. And, by doing so, they’ve taken the future into hand.
One of the television networks now refers to the Marines, soldiers and sailors involved in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime as “the next greatest generation.” It’s meant as a reference to those who marched off to World War II, thereby ensuring the tomorrows of the men who today fight under the American flag.
French writer Andre Gide, who endured two world wars in his lifetime, characterized the rite of passage for younger generations when he said, “There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me.’”
Now, as if to prove Gide’s assertion, the same young people often seen joking with their buddies while waiting for their extra-large fries in a Jacksonville fast-food restaurant, playing their car stereos a little too loud or sometimes forgetting to lower their voices in the movie theater, carry all of us on their backs as they patrol a strange country thousands of miles from Camp Lejeune.
The shoulders that looked simply young yesterday, have grown broad, strong and capable when viewed through the lens of experience.
And it is suddenly much easier to believe the world is being left in capable hands.
Sempers,
Roger
Youth among us are now heroes
DAILY NEWS STAFF
How many times in the course of history has the older generation worried that coming generations would prove incapable of handling their own lives, much less the affairs of the world?
It seems like just yesterday when these newly minted adults were young kids, in high school or college, easing into adulthood like noisy puppies, awkwardly trying to fit into their new roles as grown-up men and women.
This rite of passage has caused many to wonder out loud what the younger generation is coming to.
British philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead touched upon this generational gulf when he observed, “The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.”
These untested young men and women — Marines and sailors, piling up in line to secure an order of fries and a hamburger, sitting at the stoplight with their car stereos booming or simply out with a frequently noisy and irreverent group of friends — can be found nearly everywhere in Onslow County.
Transplanted in an area with limited opportunities for those who aren’t settled with families, they go the beach and hang out at the mall and fast-food restaurants, or drive around in their cars and walk along the road with their fellow service members.
To some, the exuberance of youth casts them as self-centered and in need of a catalyst to force them into maturity. For, as Whitehead noted, most have not yet negotiated the mine fields of the real world, not yet discovered how fate can unexpectedly tap one on the shoulder and adjust life’s course.
But all that changed on a recent day in March. Whitehead’s tragedy played out many times over as these same kids proved their mettle halfway around the world.
Many of the young people normally found in stores and restaurants now carry loaded rifles, dodge bullets and make instantaneous life-or-death decisions. They have passed from youth to shoulder the heaviest burdens of adulthood. And, by doing so, they’ve taken the future into hand.
One of the television networks now refers to the Marines, soldiers and sailors involved in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime as “the next greatest generation.” It’s meant as a reference to those who marched off to World War II, thereby ensuring the tomorrows of the men who today fight under the American flag.
French writer Andre Gide, who endured two world wars in his lifetime, characterized the rite of passage for younger generations when he said, “There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me.’”
Now, as if to prove Gide’s assertion, the same young people often seen joking with their buddies while waiting for their extra-large fries in a Jacksonville fast-food restaurant, playing their car stereos a little too loud or sometimes forgetting to lower their voices in the movie theater, carry all of us on their backs as they patrol a strange country thousands of miles from Camp Lejeune.
The shoulders that looked simply young yesterday, have grown broad, strong and capable when viewed through the lens of experience.
And it is suddenly much easier to believe the world is being left in capable hands.
Sempers,
Roger