I was thinking about my fathers generation, the way they were in general. They have been called the greatest generation and it is a moniker well earned. Surely it has to be a result of attitude. We may call it an outlook or philosophy but I believe it was just a way of thinking. One of the earliest quotes I remember hearing was, " I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you and I am I, and if by chance we should find each other, then it is beautiful. If not, it can't be helped. " I'm certain you have all heard that one and it has been attributed to several people, Bruce Lee among them. But I am not concerned with exactly who said that, but rather what they were saying. I believe it to be a fundamentally different philosophy. It is a philosophy of arrogance. My fathers generation, the greatest generation was aware of expectations and honored those expectations to the best of their ability. They did so at personal expense and sacrifice. The obligation to meet social expectations was self imposed and self enforced. That to me, is the fundamental difference between them and succeeding generations. And yes, I am including the " baby boomers " , my generation. We did grow up in a prosperous time as children and in our teen years " political awareness " influenced our thinking. Many became convinced they owed no debt to the nation and shirked that responsibilty. Many used that very quote to defend that position, I am not in this world to live up to your expectations but what was meant was, I will not honor those expectations ! I will not fulfill that obligation or expectation. I will dismiss that precept altogether. I am I. I am different and don't have to do anything I don't want to. The seed was planted.
Liberation ? That term was thrown around a lot back in those days to describe various ideologies. It wasn't a liberation however, it was a deceit. We began to deceive ourselves about expectations and obligations. The golden rule says do unto others as you would have others do unto you and with that comes an obligation. It does have expectation attached to it. I'm expecting you to uphold your end of the bargain. The only thing liberating about this dismissal of obligation was dismissing the idea of expectation. The reality is, I am obligated to fulfill certain social expectations ! Those social obligations are determined by the society in which we live. The society of my youth, controlled then by the greatest generation was one of obligation. It truly was God and country , in that order. The morality was controlled by the words in the Bible and you did have a very real obligation to your country. At the very least, a proper respect for elected officials and the flag ! That was until some decided they truly were not in this world to live up to any expectations. They began to trample upon traditional morality and ethics creating a new society. A society of self.
Now I won't dispute the validity of that simple statement. I am not here to fulfill your expectations, that is something you have to do for yourself. It is the manner in which you do that that becomes the question. Does that mean you owe nothing to anyone ? Are you free from all obligation ? It is my thinking one would have to be truly self centered and selfish to adopt any such policy. I do have obligations even when they are self imposed. If I owe a debt to no one but myself, the debt is still valid. When you begin to dismiss, excuse or ignore that debt you will suffer. A society without self imposed obligations, expectations and standards can not long survive. If we depend upon government to meet our expectations, with no obligation on your part to recognize those obligations, we will live in a constant state of chaos. The individual needs to be aware of the whole ! It is that simple. It isn't about you, your expectations, or mine. When we return to working together, for the whole, and not the individual we will have recovered that founding spirit. A spirit of understanding, sacrifice and yes, fulfilling expectations.
Liberation ? That term was thrown around a lot back in those days to describe various ideologies. It wasn't a liberation however, it was a deceit. We began to deceive ourselves about expectations and obligations. The golden rule says do unto others as you would have others do unto you and with that comes an obligation. It does have expectation attached to it. I'm expecting you to uphold your end of the bargain. The only thing liberating about this dismissal of obligation was dismissing the idea of expectation. The reality is, I am obligated to fulfill certain social expectations ! Those social obligations are determined by the society in which we live. The society of my youth, controlled then by the greatest generation was one of obligation. It truly was God and country , in that order. The morality was controlled by the words in the Bible and you did have a very real obligation to your country. At the very least, a proper respect for elected officials and the flag ! That was until some decided they truly were not in this world to live up to any expectations. They began to trample upon traditional morality and ethics creating a new society. A society of self.
Now I won't dispute the validity of that simple statement. I am not here to fulfill your expectations, that is something you have to do for yourself. It is the manner in which you do that that becomes the question. Does that mean you owe nothing to anyone ? Are you free from all obligation ? It is my thinking one would have to be truly self centered and selfish to adopt any such policy. I do have obligations even when they are self imposed. If I owe a debt to no one but myself, the debt is still valid. When you begin to dismiss, excuse or ignore that debt you will suffer. A society without self imposed obligations, expectations and standards can not long survive. If we depend upon government to meet our expectations, with no obligation on your part to recognize those obligations, we will live in a constant state of chaos. The individual needs to be aware of the whole ! It is that simple. It isn't about you, your expectations, or mine. When we return to working together, for the whole, and not the individual we will have recovered that founding spirit. A spirit of understanding, sacrifice and yes, fulfilling expectations.
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