Has it been hot enough for you? I'll get back to that.
My father, born in 1927, was a member of the "Greatest Generation" of Americans. He embodied their very characteristics of:
Personal Responsibility: The harsh reality of the Great Depression forced many to a higher standard of personal responsibility, even as children.
Humility: The Great Depression fostered modesty and humility in many of those who lived through scarcity.
Work Ethic: Hard work enabled survival during both the Depression and the war. Many jobs at the time were physically demanding, with long hours.
Frugality: Saving every penny and every scrap helped families survive through times of shortage. “Use it up, fix it up, make it do, or do without” was a motto of their time.
Commitment: One job or one marriage often lasted an entire lifetime.
Integrity: People valued honesty and trustworthiness, values fostered by the need to rely on one another.
Self-Sacrifice: Millions sacrificed to defend their country or support the war effort from home.
Now, compare those characteristics to our current generation of Americans. How does it make you feel? Ashamed? Undeserving? Selfish? Childish? Self-centered? As a member of the Baby Boomer generation myself, put me down for all of them.
So, what does this have to do with our current record-breaking heat wave? Several years ago, I went to see the movie, "Inconvenience Truth." It was about how the heating of the earth, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, would become an unstoppable out-of-control train that would alter life on earth, if we didn't do something about it. But because ours is currently a generation that lacks personal responsibility, humility, frugality, commitment, integrity, and self-sacrifice, we have ignored and even scoffed at the scientists that have been telling us that we needed to change. But we didn't change and we all know what happens to a species that doesn't adapt to its changing environment.
God gave mankind the ability to be self-aware and to reason. Our country is one of the top CO-2 producers in the world so we are responsible for a significant portion of global warming. Even the staunchest deniers of climate change have to acknowledge that it is currently afoot.
So, this out-of-control train is barreling down the tracks and we're on it. You can't jump off, because this change will affect every corner of the planet. Our generation, because of our "character flaws," waited too long to change. It's an inconvenience truth, but all the same, true. The saying goes, "it's never too late to change." Let's hope and pray that it's true.
Camille Wright lives in Brandon.
