Making the Good the Enemy of the Perfect

Your intrigued Peasant read a rather interesting letter 

in the June 14 edition of the Wall Street Journal which

cries out for commentary. In the letter titled "Every 

Generation Has Faults", the author of the letter was

responding to a previous letter to the WSJ (June 10)

titled "Who Can Fill the Greatest Generation's Shoes?"

In the response letter the author, a professor at Brown 

University (a lefty from an Ivy League university,

of course) said that first letter "typifies the adulation 

often lavished on America's so-called greatest generation

(ah, you can sense the contempt that the respondent has

for this generation of Americans!). But the generation 

that did 'Storm the beaches to protect freedom' also

practiced segregation, which deprived that generation's

black citizens of freedom, as well as accepting the 

internment that deprived that generation's Japanese-

American fellow citizens of theirs." The professor's

letter finished "Let's face it: Every generation is a 

mixed bag."

Well of course every generation is a mixed bag! 

We are talking about people --- human beings ---

and humans are capable of doing great good and 

committing great wrongs; that is a large part of 

human nature. But do we castigate an entire generation 

because it is guilty of the latter while also being credited 

with the former? Our Greatest Generation had a huge role 

in saving the world from fascistic tyranny through a most

incredible effort and frightening sacrifice. And this 

professor from Brown might be interested to know 

that many of this same Greatest Generation would go on

to right the wrongs of racial discrimination in our society 

along with the obscenely unjust incarceration of Japanese-

Americans during that world war in which our Greatest 

Generation distinguished itself, with more than a few 

Japanese-Americans fighting side by side with the white, 

Anglo-Saxon Americans and the African-Americans

against the totalitarian foes from Europe and Japan.

They, too, were part of this, our Greatest Generation,

and left an indelible mark on our country's history

with their service and sacrifice. But this prof considers 

the good to be the enemy of the perfect, and wants 

only the perfect --- nothing else will do.

Yes, the Greatest Generation was a "mixed bag". 

But the blend's ratio was many parts positive to

few parts negative, and this made all the difference.

MEM