In this era of repulsive politicizing of a simple, commonsense act of wearing a mask, we might do well to recall an era where citizens on the home front during World War II were called upon to do much more. Urged, reminded, hounded, and haunted by their patriotic duty, the level of homework on the home front would probably not be tolerated by the whining, selfish, stupid brats today who refuse to do so much as wear a mask in a store to save the lives of their fellow Americans.
Have a look at these posters. They speak to another generation, but before you laugh at the images, remember the ultimate sacrifice occurring on foreign shores made the folks on the home front willing to shoulder any responsibility for the greater good. They had a shared purpose: to survive.
4 comments:
I would often wonder how we would measure up to such a crisis. I think most of us are doing our bit, but those groaners sure make it tougher than need be. They also get my Irish up!
I know, it's hard to imagine a lot of people taking on the burdens of that generation as selflessly or as successfully. And these posters don't even refer to the greater sacrifices of buying bonds, giving blood, taking up war jobs or volunteer work, not to say actually enlisting in the service. Folks on the home front were pretty well worn out by the end of the war. Maybe what we need today is some clever graphic artists creating posters to hound us.
Boy, you can say that again! Just think of how many people would be ALIVE if our government had taken a lesson from FDR and approached our present crisis with calls for unity, commitment, and care for others? The people who put together the Lincoln Project films could have taken a look at The House I Live In and Why We Fight and done modern versions of those.
Sigh.
Oh, yes, those are great examples of using film to educate and reinforce ideals of common decency as well as not only encouraging, but expecting that the audience will do right. We have become squeamish to enforcing the Constitution. For others, even the idea of common decency is laughable.
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