Submitted by John Cooper, Greenwich
To the Editor:
My 99-year-old father-in-law passed away in February, having lived with my wife and me for nearly nine and a half years. From 2017 to 2020 he would come into the kitchen in the morning asking this question: “What did we do to deserve this guy?” I never had an answer for him but can honestly say that I’m not sorry that he has departed earth at this confounding time.
What, dear god, has happened to the American people? A possible explanation: through time and attrition, we have lost the heart and soul of the Greatest Generation.
My parents were born in 1923 and 1924 respectively. Both lived through the Great Depression, during which my mother was sent to live with cousins when her younger sister was born, and my father’s father was out of work for two full years, with my grandmother taking in laundry to make ends meet. Only through the generosity of their neighbors and friends did they make it through.
Later my father enlisted in the U.S. Marines, seeing action in Saipan before landing in Japan as part of an occupation force. His safe return made him brothers with every other U.S. soldier that made it home. Gratitude for having lived through these two existential events would result in the belief of “a common good” for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, as their influence waned, the generation of “I, me, mine” took its place. Fast forward to a new millennium and a generation that has faint memories of those cataclysmic events our parents and grandparents survived. The accumulation of wealth is of paramount importance, the how unimportant. Slowly, corporate ethics become an oxymoron; corporations through the Citizens United decision become enshrined as individuals by the SCOTUS. As individuals gained more and more wealth, their separation from the middle class becomes a chasm, not only in financial ability but also in connection to the whole. Those at the bottom are asking the question; “How much is enough?” and those at the top never answer, still in pursuit of more.
So here we are in the era of Trump and DOGE and a government in service to a single human rather than their constituents. The lure of power so intoxicating that any decency or morality they once had has vanished. Here in Greenwich, that equates to a Republican controlled BET that slashes items in the budget without care or concern for those who will be negatively impacted.
Under the current administration, the ever-expanding attitude of “I’ve got mine and don’t give a damn about you!” will result not only in marginalization but also suffering on the part of some families in town.
How did we lose our sense of community, empathy and love? Better question yet, how do we get them back? Without those things I am sure that we are not handing over a better world to our children and theirs. How can a country with so many haves ignore the have nots? How can a town of such wealth deny support to those less fortunate who live alongside us? How?
John Cooper
Greenwich, CT