Why our nation will endure, prosper, and prevail

To the Times: We grandparents who haven’t been claimed by this God awful pandemic have a role to play in helping the young ones work through the depression, hopelessness, and despair many are feeling. We are not shrinks. They will be getting more cases than they can handle. We can share our own personal stories about how we fought through our own tough times. During World War II, I was growing up and spent many sleepless nights during the blackouts and planned drills. Each block had several barrels of sand to fight fires. The blaring sound of sirens alerted us.

Several young men on our block had been taken prisoners of war. On the nearby docks we could ride our bikes or take a walk to see firsthand for ourselves German prisoners at work. Parents who had sons in the armed services worried every day if a jeep carrying several soldiers would appear at their door with notices of either their son’s being killed or taken prisoner. Things at first were not going well for our united forces and that was when I worried most. Deep down within men, however, was a solid conviction that we would win the ultimate victory. I tried to stay positive and optimistic and continued to believe in the invincibility of this great land.

I now have a gang of grandkids, ranging in age from 2 to 25, and I am doing my best to make sure that this old-timer shares with them my sincere belief that this nation has the stuff within it to endure, prosper, and prevail. I am not trying to take any work away from the shrinks, but I am helping that hearing from Pop Pop might lighten the heavy load they must be carrying. We can ill afford to have this nation’s youth lose the vigor and enthusiasm so much needed to take their places in the important roles left to them to carry on.