A reminder of the passage of time.
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Yesterday was the first time I remember that the news didn't mention the anniversary of D-Day. Not in the morning shows, nor in the local outlets.
Granted, I couldn't watch every station at once. And I didn't watch the entire broadcasts. But in the past, I didn't have to. At least once or twice, every June 6, just in casually having the news on and getting ready, I would see one or two mentions at least. But not yesterday. If it was brought up, it must have been at the bottom of the hour after I had gone.
I wanted to wait and post on what I saw and see what they said, but I saw nothing. In print media, the only major national outlet in the news feed that I saw was the NYT, using D-Day to criticize President Trump's relationship with our traditional allies. But I guess at least it mentioned the day.
I suppose this is what comes of time. Especially today, where the past is increasingly remembered only to condemn, and as quickly forgotten. When I was growing up, WWI was seen as ancient history, the Spanish American War even more so. WWII was the dominant historical memory, at least until the 1980s, when Vietnam overtook WWII in the pop culture mindset. I've often wondered if we would have remembered WWII as long as we did, had it not been for that Boomer penance period of Saving Private Ryan, The Greatest Generation and Band of Brothers and similar (not to mention that all too brief wave of post-9/11 patriotism).
Who knows. Had those not brought WWII back into the public mindset, WWII might have been as obscure for my boys as the Spanish American War was for my generation. But it did get a boost and a generational round of attention in those days. So for the following years, at least December 7th and D-Day received the obligatory mention each year.
A few years ago, during the 2020 revolution, I recall some tried to insist it was time to stop remembering Pearl Harbor and instead remember the beginning of the Japanese American internments. That didn't appear to fly. But I note that following that, no real mention was given of that day of infamy in casual news broadcasts in any event.
Now D-Day seems to have landed on the chopping block. Whether we can draw a line between this and other events I've noticed that have received no media attention, I don't know. I just know that yesterday, for the first time I ever remember, that Day of Days went without mention in anything I saw. As, I suppose, all things must.
All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So I must be on my way
And face another day.
George Harrison
I wonder if WWII will experience a resurgence in memory at some point. When I was growing up, all our grandfathers were vets and led the parades. We watched countless hours of WWII film, learned about it in school, and were steeped in the horrors of the Holocaust. I think with anything, sometimes a generation just assumes knowledge gets passed down because they grew up swimming in it, but unless it's a conscious effort it obviously does not. This happened I think with Baby Boomers and religion. They were raised in it but neglected to pass it on and it shows. Anyway, I just wonder if nostalgic Gen Xers will lead that charge at some point about WWII. I can see it potentially resurfacing and being reintroduced to the younger generations.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say. We're about three generations into kids being taught to more or less despise our history and heritage. Even when I was growing up. My sons, in watching some of the shows and reading some of the materials from back then, are stunned at how flagrant the 'hat the West and its bastard child America, hate it now!' messaging was. I think the resurgence in the late 90s via Ryan and Greatest Generation and Band of Brothers was the Boomers suddenly facing the death of their parents after a lifetime of rebelling against and mocking the same. Sort of a generational repentance so to speak. Now we're several generations from the Boomers, with some young'uns convinced that there was nowhere in history as evil as the US, unless it's the whole of the West in general.
DeleteI hope WWII will experience a resurgence Bernadette. I suppose we are pretty much the same age though of course you are younger than 72 ;) but experienced everything you discussed and the reason may be is that our parents and their generation were right there, on the forefront of the war and it's repercussions and we felt it from our parents. Most things work in cycles and I believe this will too. I remember with PASSION, the Memorial day remembrances at school with all the cub scouts, boy scouts, brownies and girl scouts in uniform in the elementary school parking lot with flags flying. There were police, firefighters, veteran soldiers, all in uniform as the whole school sang all the anthems of the branches in the military. If that didn't swell a student's heart with pride for country nothing would have. I thank God for experiencing that, and I hope, in the future our children will too. I love my country.
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough to remember when we still celebrated the US, though even by my elementary days we were taught of the meaner points of our past. Though that was wrapped up in the fact that such were the sins of the world. By college, however, you could see it change. Except for the late 90s and early 00s, especially the post-9/11 period, it's been downhill with each generation being told more and more that there really never was anything in our past worth not condemning. Now, to see some youngster journalists and activists, it's not hard to imagine that forgetting the whole of the WWII generation might just be the nicest thing we can do for them.
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