VetSpective: Our Generation, Our Time

Why are we unable to constructively move forward as a country?

Some would say that it is because we are not exclusively looking towards the future. That we are unwilling to make changes necessary to progress. While there is merit to this argument, I think it assumes there is little that is of value from our past.

If we exclusively look to the future, the disharmony and fractured nature of our society will only increase – unintentionally risking our collective future.

I believe we do not look to the past enough to find the positive guideposts and reference points for how we should meet the challenges of our time and move forward.

However, perhaps paradoxically, there is no shortage of comparisons made to the past – connections between our time and other points in American history. It occurs through the words we choose and the parallels that we try to make to contextualize major events.

We refer to the recent recession as the ‘Great Recession.’ We publicly demonstrate our affection for those who have served and sacrificed in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These actions – whether we mean to or not – are ways in which we connect our time to historic events such as the Great Depression and World War II.

But when I reflect on whether we – in this moment, in our time – have truly stepped up to meet today’s challenges, that’s where the parallels between the past and today begin to fall short for me.

I think parallels between our time and historic events – from large changes in our economy to war – clearly are instructive. They can reveal the failures of the past and provide lessons learned for the future.

However, are we also learning, valuing, and applying the lessons of what was positive and successful from the past?

When I saw the recent news that Raymond Haerry was interred on the USS Arizona (http://rly.pt/2p97hif) – a ship that he served on during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 – I began to think about this very question and what Mr. Haerry’s personal decision, 75 years removed from the catalyzing event, might mean for this moment and our time in American history.

As reported on ABC, on December 7th, 1941, Mr. Haerry was 19 years old. During the attack, a large bomb exploded, igniting the fuel on the USS Arizona. Mr. Haerry had to swim through flames in the harbor to get to land, then engaged attacking Japanese aircraft, and subsequently began the difficult task of retrieving bodies of his countrymen from the harbor.

I wonder what Mr. Haerry would think about how to live and lead in our time and in this moment. Perhaps his family knows. But my guess is that, consistent with the culture of the WWII generation, one has to look no farther than his example.

Mr. Haerry’s decision to be interred with his USS Arizona shipmates reveals his values. For me, his decision says: do what you have to do, hang together, and then be at peace.

Mr. Haerry was an ordinary person put in an extraordinary moment. And similar to Mr. Haerry, we, ordinary citizens, find ourselves in yet another extraordinary moment in our history.

When I compare how we, as a nation, have reacted and handled ourselves during this tumultuous time to the example of Mr. Haerry, I’m not sure we can say that we are doing what we have to do. That we are meeting our challenges. That we are hanging together as a nation. That we are looking out for our fellow citizens in addition to ourselves.

Nor can I say that we are at peace. Far from it.

So, what can we do to honor Mr. Haerry and follow the example that he demonstrated both on December 7th, 1941 and, again, just this week?

First, I think we must re-build a national culture that puts at its core the fact that we have more in common than that which separates us. My educated guess, from my time serving in the military, is that Mr. Haerry did not agree with everyone he served with – and probably did not like all of them either. Yet, they were all in it together. And, at the end, that is who he wanted to be with.

Second, it’s not only about expressing how we feel or our grievances. It’s also about meeting our problems head on – in a way that is both constructive and enhances the whole. We must use Mr. Haerry’s example, not to mention the example of the many others of the WWII generation, to understand and embrace the importance of doing – not just being.

Third, we must re-discover the value of harmony – and what our founding fathers termed ‘tranquility’ – in our society. While this cannot be achieved at all times, we must put our shared humanity above all other interests. We also must re-commit to problem solving and value achieving improvements, even if they are marginal, in our collective well being – both within our political dialogue and public policymaking.

In the final analysis, I do not believe our Republic can long endure if we do not start following Mr. Haerry’s example and his life walk of service to family, community, and country.

We, as a nation, must re-build a national purpose, do what we have to do as a country and society, hang together, and then, as we say at West Point: ‘be thou at peace.’

Be thou at peace, Raymond.

***
Alex Gallo is senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and served as a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee for five years. He is a West Point graduate and combat veteran and a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School. His work has been published by The Washington Post, National Review, The Huffington Post, The Hill, and Foreign Affairs.