Greatest Generation

In Defense of Grandparents Who Came Before Us

Karin Kasdin | Posted 05.04.2012

Read More: Fifty, Baby Boomers, Grandparents, Goldie Hawn, Grandparenting, 50, Boomers, Greatest Generation, Fifty News
Karin Kasdin

Recent blogs and magazine articles extolling the new breed of grandmothers would have us believe that our own grandmothers lived their lives in floral housedresses and orthopedic shoes.

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The End of the Greatest Generation: Is Anyone Paying Attention?

Karl A. Pillemer, Ph.D. | Posted 05.02.2012

Read More: Elderly, Self-Help, Aging, Greatest Generation, Video, Happiness, Wisdom, Gps-Soul, Elderly Americans, Career Advice, Advice, People Over 70, 30 Lessons for Living, Wisest Americans, Health Post50, Healthy Living, Karl Pillemer, Aging Gracefully, Fifty News, Veterans, Boomers, Military, Elders, Listening to Elders, Life, Baby Boomers, Fifty News
Karl A. Pillemer, Ph.D.

I recently had a stunning realization: We're about to lose one of the most precious resources in America. I'm not talking about oil, gas or rare metals. What we're about to lose Is the living presence of the elders who make up the Greatest Generation.

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Good Enough Does Not Lead to Greatness

Dr. David Svaldi | Posted 04.27.2012

Read More: Greatest Generation, Higher Education, College Expectations, Grade Inflation, Adams State College, American Education, US Education, Education System, Education Spending, Education News
Dr. David Svaldi

Too often, we fail to strive for excellence or greatness because we believe it is not probable, so why try? Or, we accept the status quo, even if it is mediocre or sub par. "Good enough" will not be adequate to solve the huge number of issues facing our nation.

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Why Home Matters, Even -- Especially -- at the End

Liddy Manson | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: The Greatest Generation, Caring for Aging Parents, Aging Parents, Greatest Generation, Caregiving, Remembering, Aging, Death and Dying, Huff/post50, Parenting post50, Aging Process, Parenting Parents, Aging Parent, Aging Advice, Cancer, Dying With Dignity, Fifty News
Liddy Manson

She couldn't leave her bed at all during the final months, but the city came to her, one person at a time, to say goodbye in the room where they'd said so many hellos.

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Make History in Your Pajamas

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 03.30.2012

Read More: Greatest Generation, National Archives, Dust Bowl, Immigration, Archives.com, 1940, Census, History, Wwii, Volunteering, Who Do You Think You Are?, Rita Wilson, Genealogy, World War II, Great Migration, Ellis Island, Great Depression, 1940 Census, Familysearch, Findmypast, Culture News
Megan Smolenyak

On April 2nd, after a long wait of 72 years, the 1940 census will be released, and in a historic first, the collection will emerge online in digitized form -- a remarkable snapshot of a nation still recovering from the Great Depression and not yet aware of its approaching entry into war.

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Reconsidering Today's Older Generation

Liddy Manson | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: The Greatest Generation, Caring for Aging Parents, Aging Process, Aging Parents, Greatest Generation, Caregiving, Aging Parent, Aging Advice, Parenting, Parents, Fifty News
Liddy Manson

I now consider mid-70s as "prime of life." Women in their 70s take brisk walks in cute yoga pants, work out at gyms, and go zip-lining in the Amazonian Rain Forest.

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Eastwood Super Bowl Ad: Powerful, Inspirational and Dead Wrong

John Hrabe | Posted 04.13.2012

Read More: Peter Thiel, Student Loans, Greatest Generation, Clint Eastwood, Chrysler, Auto Bailouts, Super Bowl Commercials, Higher Education, Bailouts, Economy, College Tuition, Millennial Generation, Youth Unemployment, Super Bowl 2012, Video, Business News
John Hrabe

The American recovery won't come from Detroit's dogged persistence. It will come from innovative computer geeks and social misfits. Instead of a pep talk, we need a lesson in computer programming.

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Where Have All the Old People Gone?

Liddy Manson | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: The Greatest Generation, Parenting Parents, Caring for Aging Parents, Aging Process, Aging Parents, Greatest Generation, Caregiving, Aging Parent, Aging Advice, Parenting post50, Fifty News
Liddy Manson

Where have they gone? And what does it mean for my kids that, apart from their grandparents, they just don't know any old people?

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How To Thank The Women Who Paved The Way

Kristen Houghton | Posted 03.12.2012

Read More: Greatest Generation, Health, Equal-Rights-Amendment-Women, Future Generations, Mothers, Grandmothers, Property, Great Depression, Women News
Kristen Houghton

The next time you sign a legal document that makes you a property owner or receive a degree, stop for a moment and say a silent thank you to the women who came before you.

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What Was Missing in Kansas: the Greatest Generation's Political Power

Harvey J. Kaye | Posted 02.12.2012

Read More: Theodore Roosevelt, Greatest Generation, World War II, Recession, Franklin Roosevelt, Obama Osawatomie, Obama Kansas, Obama Kansas Speech, Obama Teddy Roosevelt Speech, Obama Teddy Roosevelt, Great Depression, Fifty News
Harvey J. Kaye

The men and women who saved the nation from economic destruction and political tyranny, and went on to create the middle class and turn the United States into the strongest and most prosperous nation on earth, didn't do so simply by having the right values and working hard to achieve them.

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A Resolution for Future Holidays: Listen to and Learn From the Past

Liddy Manson | Posted 02.06.2012

Read More: The Greatest Generation, Parenting Parents, Caring for Aging Parents, Aging Process, Aging Parents, Greatest Generation, Caregiving, Aging Parent, Aging Advice, Parenting post50, Fifty News
Liddy Manson

I spend much of my life filled with regret that I don't see the people I love as much as I'd like, and that when I'm with them I don't pay as close attention as I should. A visit with a dear friend last weekend broke that pattern.

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The 9/11 Of Their Generation

SGT Tanangachi Mfuni | Posted 02.06.2012

Read More: September 11, Pearl Harbor, Greatest Generation, Pearl Harbor 70th Anniversary, December 7 1941, 70th Anniversary Pearl Harbor Attack, Pearl Harbor Anniversary, Impact News
SGT Tanangachi Mfuni

On the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I have a nagging thought that while dates with infamy are tattooed to the soul of the generation which experiences them, they lose their sacredness with each new generation.

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Not the America I Envisioned

Jim Worth | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Greatest Generation, Middle-Class, Income Inequality, Vietnam War, Economy, Congress, American Dream, Class Warfare, Baby Boomers, Politicians, Civil Rights, Politics News
Jim Worth

This country, America, has become ugly, and it's my generation that has made it this way.

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Not a Native American? You're an Immigrant

Bernard Starr | Posted 01.02.2012

Read More: Greatest Generation, Americans, Workers, France, Native Americans, Immigration, Compassion, Emma-Lazarus, Mexican Immigrants, Declaration of Independence, Immigration Reform, Genes, Tom Brokaw, Anti-Immigration, Statue of Liberty, Poor, The New Colossus, Constitution, Arizona Immigration Law, Benjamin Franklin, Nativism, Politics News
Bernard Starr

Contrary to the popular belief that we are swimming in more immigrants than ever, in 1890 14.8 percent of our population was foreign-born compared to today's 12.5 percent. And the number of illegal immigrants is on the decline.

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Occupy Nursing Homes: A Cause to Die For

Byron Kennard | Posted 12.27.2011

Read More: Green, Occupy Wall Street, Greatest Generation, Satire, Generation X, Climate Change, Social Movements, Comedy, Global Warming, Baby Boomers, Environmentalists, Preservation of Wilderness, Seniors, Environment, Boomers, Comedy News
Byron Kennard

My proposal calls for expanded wilderness protection in order to accommodate large numbers of nearly-dearly departed boomers. Think of this as the ecological dividend of your sacrifice.

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Hemingway at War, America in Crisis

Brent Budowsky | Posted 12.02.2011

Read More: American Century, Stop Complaining, Poverty, Right Stuff, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Economic Crisis, Nuclear Arms Race, A Farewell to Arms, Ronald Reagan, War, Ernest Hemingway, Camelot, Joblessness, Unfair Economy, Greatest Generation, Fascism, Tom Wolfe, Courage, Wealth, Heroism, John F Kennedy, Arab Spring, Nancy Reagan, Shared Purpose, Politics News
Brent Budowsky

We can read about the carnage of war in A Farewell to Arms, and the power of great aspirations in For Whom the Bell Tolls, and consider what each of us can do in our times by remembering what Ernest Hemingway and so many others did in theirs.

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Sex, Drugs, Rock And Roll-And Seniors: A New World

Sharon Premoli | Posted 11.29.2011

Read More: Autumn, Women, Baby Boomers, Music, The Inner Life, Sharon-Premoli, Sex, Greatest Generation, Mick Jagger, Me Generation, Reinvention, Fifty News
Sharon Premoli

When my parents hit their sixties, they embraced "senior" status like all their friends did -- they upped the golfing, bulked up on the Tums, and began their annual Haj pilgrimage to Florida. I regret to say, none of it resonates with me.

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Last Call for the "Me" Generation

Steve Malkenson | Posted 06.20.2011

Read More: Debt, Me Generation, Health Care, Greatest Generation, Iraq War, Social Security, Business News
Steve Malkenson

We have been living beyond our means for the last 30 years. We shun the notion of sacrifice. We assume that the world will continue to finance our self-indulgence forever.

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Will the Florida GOP Dishonor the Greatest Generation?

Harvey J. Kaye | Posted 06.05.2011

Read More: Social Security, Greatest Generation, Florida, Republicans, World War II, New Deal, Fdr, Gop, Politics News
Harvey J. Kaye

This past Saturday, April 2, Florida Republicans launched a six-months-long, seven-city "Greatest Generation Tour" in Pensacola's Veterans Memorial Pa...

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Obama Goes to War the Millennial Way

Michael Hais and Morley Winograd | Posted 05.28.2011

Read More: Libya, Obama, Millennial Generation, Millennials, Greatest Generation, Libya Intervention, Civic Engagement, Barack Obama, Politics News
Michael Hais and Morley Winograd

By focusing on the issue of civil liberties, and not on implementing American-style political institutions, Obama pointed the way toward a cause that young people could embrace.

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Japan's Grief Is the World's Grief. It Wasn't Always Like This.

Tom Alderman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Japanese Army, Jitterbug, Hubba Hubba, Geneva Convention, Olympic Winner, Pow, Wwii, Greatest Generation, Louis Zamperini, The Bird, Olympic Gold, Laura Hillenbrand, Perry Como, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Medical Experiments, Judo, B-29 Bomber, Random House Audio, Edward Herrmann, Hogan's Heroes, Beriberi, Denue Fever, Books News
Tom Alderman

The reason Unbroken sits atop various best seller lists is, like all well-told stories, it pits a compelling and tenacious hero against an unrelenting and sadistic villain.

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When FDR Recruited Thomas Paine to the Struggle for the Four Freedoms

Harvey J. Kaye | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Thomas Paine, Fdr, American Revolution, Greatest Generation, Conservatives, American History, Progressives, Freedom, February 23, Democracy, World War II, Politics News
Harvey J. Kaye

Today the political right does its best to lay claim to the revolutionary patriot Thomas Paine and to harness him to the cause of constraining democra...

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Define "Change" -- Or It's Perpetual Pendulum for America

Carla Seaquist | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Greatest Generation, Change, Wall Street Crisis, 2012 Presidential Election, Wall Street, Responsibility, Corporate Responsibility, Midterm Elections, Obama Change, 2012 Election, Voters, Economic Crisis, Sarah Palin, President Obama, Barack Obama, Fiscal Responsibility, Politics News
Carla Seaquist

Feeling whiplashed by the midterm election? No wonder: We've literally been through the wringer -- 360 degrees of change in two very short years. In...

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Greatest Generation 2.0

Jamie Henn | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Greatest Generation 2.0, Obama, Education, 350.Org, Greatest Generation, Global Warming, Climate Change, Politics News
Jamie Henn

The two main options for Wednesday morning seem to be: 1. sulk or 2. start building the movement that's going to save our country. Many commentators,...

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How Seniors can save American Education and the Economy

Bernard Starr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Social Security, Retirement, Middle Class, Geoffrey Canada, Longevity Revolution, Student Loans, High School Dropouts, Volunteerism, Education, Waiting for Superman, Senior Citizens, Tom Brokaw, Bob Herbert, Skype, College Dropouts, Education News
Bernard Starr

Seniors embody a vast reservoir of skills, talent and wisdom that we gratuitously salute but do not harness for productive roles. How can seniors save American education and insure a 21st century-ready workforce?

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