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Was the Greatest Generation also the calmest?

By Ed Goldman

One of the funniest moments in the film “Moonstruck” occurs when Cher (as Loretta Castorini) slaps the cheek of Nicholas Cage (playing the smitten, one-handed Johnny Cammareri) and says, “Snap out of it!”

Do you sometimes feel you’d like to deliver a similar command—or perhaps “Get a grip!”—to, among others: 

• Elected officials who cite everything as an “existential crisis” and have probably never heard of Jean-Paul Sartre nor have come to realize that it’s not a crisis when your hair-transplant appointment has been rescheduled;
• College professors who think that “tenure” is the same as an idiot license. Think about what you’re telling young people at their most impressionable and ignorant age (well, until, 20 years later, that is, when they get talked into buying a whole-life insurance policy);
•  TV anchors who declare the opening of an envelope is “breaking news”; and 
• People in line in front of you at a coffee shop who demand that the barista recite the uncondensed hagiography of the beans they’re about to consume.

When did America, which famously kept its cool through its own startup Revolution, Great Depression, subsequent (and predictable) recessions, pandemics and the comedian Gallagher—become so excitable?

When did we start demanding, “May I see your manager?” 

Do we forget that the Greatest Generation was also, in many ways, the Calmest Generation? Sure, many of them smoked themselves to death to deal with stress but cigarettes were thought to be cool back then, so there may have been a fine line between doping and coping. 

Some simple predictions devoid of the hue, cry and partisan hype: 

1. If Donald Trump wins the presidency, the country won’t suddenly turn into a fascist dystopia in which children are urged to hand over their parents to the authorities. Kids would already do that if it didn’t require an effort. 
2. While Social Security won’t be eliminated in most of our lifetimes, neither will global warming. Respectively, too revered (Social Security) and too little too late (planet-saving). Sorry, Earth, you gave us everything but we didn’t deserve you. We were like entitled children.
3. The “wave of antisemitism” everyone’s been chattering about will crest, making it possible for everyday antisemitism to make a comeback. Jew-haters and self-hating Jews aren’t going anywhere, so let’s get a grip. And a restraining order, when necessary.