The Greatest Generation
Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic sacrifices that the men and women during World War II made to stop Hitler and his allies and save our nation and the world from tyranny. The name of that book was The Greatest Generation. Now there is absolutely no question that the tremendous effort and self sacrifice that our grandfathers and grandmothers made during those dark days represents very best of what America is all about. We will never be able to thank them enough for what they did to preserve this great country for us and for our children.
But there may be another greatest generation that deserves recognition as well. And that generation is the next one. The reason that generation has the chance to be the greatest generation as well is that we have the chance, right now as the parents, the guardians, the teachers, the Boy Scout leaders, the Sunday School teachers and the mentors of these young people to show them what greatness is and how they too can be for their times the greatest generation.
To help the next generation to demonstrate that kind of greatness, we must instill in them a sense of community awareness, devotion and pride that will generate from everything they do. If the next generation is only what used to be called “the me generation”, they will only do what makes them happy right now. Greatness comes from doing something that means something for the community. So by teaching our youth how to be involved in community service from a very early age, we equip them to be as great as any generation that came before.
Being of service to the community is a skill and an attitude that is caught and not taught. So by making sure we, as the adults in their lives, are always looking for ways to get involved in community service, the youth will mimic our behavior as youth will always do and they will catch the fever and get a taste for community service that will last a lifetime.
A wise man once said about helping the poor that if you give a man a fish he is fed for a day but if you teach him to fish, he is fed for a lifetime. This ethic is true about teaching our youth that community service is fun and that neighbors helping neighbors is what makes life worth living. That is teaching our kids to fish. And the result will be a love of community service that will last a lifetime.
We have good mentors in our quest to raise the greatest generation. And there are outstanding youth organizations that thrive on community service and passing the torch to the next generation. From Boy Scouts to school clubs to youth groups to the YMCA, wherever there are mentors of youth, there is community service going on.
How will we know if our quest to make the next generation great is a success? The clues will come quietly. When you hear your son or daughter leave the house with enthusiasm to go join in on a project to clean up the park or to sign up at the library to help children to read, you can reflect that you are witnessing the birth in that child a love of giving and a love of community service that will last a lifetime. That is the spirit that made the World War II generation great. By empowering our children to be servants of the community, they too will become for their times, the greatest generation.
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Young Hands Making a Difference What is the more important goal of any kid? Well if you are a kid ...
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A Different Kind of Christmas Each year as Christmas season begins to go into full gear, we hear the complaint ...
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A Rich Retirement Whether it is you who is approaching those golden years we call retirement or one of your ...
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Can Mandatory Community Service Work? Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work. And you would be hard pressed to ...
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Children Reaching Children War is a terrible thing. And the war we are trying to get through right now sure ...
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Coming Together There is something about community service that causes a sense of coming together that really is not possible ...
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Community Service is a Family Affair Sometimes we think our kids never listen to us. This can be a particularly ...
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Frats are not all like “Animal House” When you think of a college fraternity, the traditional image of a hard ...
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Getting the Government out of Community Service We live in a time when we tend to look to the government ...
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Helping Hands Around the World When we think of community service, we almost always think in terms of our local ...
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How the Rich Really Get Richer Somehow we have a fascination and sometimes a disgust toward the wealthiest people in ...
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It Takes a Village A few years ago a book came out called “It Takes a Village” that created a ...
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Jerry’s Kids Forty one years. That is quite a long time. And that is how long Jerry Lewis has been ...
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Merchants Reach Out Sometimes we see some tremendous acts of community service that one of the really big businesses in ...
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Real Patriotism Patriotism is a word that has gotten a lot of use in the last few years as more ...
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Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels. If you have bikers in your community, you can relate to that sense ...
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Teens on a Mission from God One of the many great lines from the classic movie The Blues Brothers was ...
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The Church as Good Neighbor There has been a lot of discussion going on about whether religion should be part ...
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The Evidence of Eagles Most of us at some point or another have met a young man who proudly includes ...
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The Good Lawyers When you think of a lawyer, sometimes we get an image of high powered men in flashy ...
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The Greatest Generation Not long ago, Tom Brokaw, a well known newsman and author wrote a book about the heroic ...
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The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity There may be no more recognizable organization name that comes to mind when we ...
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The Power of Working Together All around the country, community service is powered by such a wide variety of organizations ...
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Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats On the children’s cartoon, The Flintstones, Fred and Barney belong to ...
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What’s in it for Them? Have you noticed how many of the really big businesses in every community always seem ...
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What You Can Do for Your Country At one time the method for keeping the armed forces supplied with young ...
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to The Greatest Generation. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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Young Hands Making a Difference
A Different Kind of Christmas
A Rich Retirement
Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Children Reaching Children
Coming Together
Community Service is a Family Affair
Frats are not all like “Animal House”
Getting the Government out of Community Service
Helping Hands Around the World
How the Rich Really Get Richer
It Takes a Village
Jerry’s Kids
Merchants Reach Out
Real Patriotism
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels
Teens on a Mission from God
The Church as Good Neighbor
The Evidence of Eagles
The Good Lawyers
The Greatest Generation
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity
The Power of Working Together
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats
What’s in it for Them?
What You Can Do for Your Country
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