HOME OF THE BRAVE: Generational Bravery

We all get a bump in patriotism around this time of year, right? Personally, I serenade myself with medleys of American faves, always culminating in the Star Spangled Banner. The final phrase of our national anthem declares we live in “the home of the brave.” But I always wonder: What did brave look like to our ancestors?

For our founding families, bravery meant life-long separation between loyalists and rebels, long-term separation from loved-ones during war, losing homes, livelihoods, and lives. Sustained by a vision bigger than themselves, they stayed the course and we’ve benefited. However imperfectly, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are still being realized.

Fast forward six or seven generations. Each of our five generations inhabiting today’s workplace exhibit bravery in different ways:

Traditionalists had every right to be self-absorbed while dealing with survival issues of the Great Depression. But they were brave enough to sacrifice their personal safety for a purpose greater than themselves for a safer world by fighting World War II. Core values of patriotism and loyalty followed throughout their careers.

Boomers outlawed discrimination based on race or sex in hiring, promotions, and firing in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unprecedented, this required bravery in collaborating with their elders, and came with years of violence and lives sacrificed. But it was a landmark in workplace equality.

Gen Xers took our unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness seriously. They bravely challenged a power structure that privileged work over family with the practice of work/life balance. Bosses called them “slackers,” but they did it anyway. The practice they pioneered is finally becoming the norm.

Millennials built on the Xers’ pursuit of happiness by expanding our ability to be productive ANYWHERE. They took technological advancements and a bit of ingenuity and pushed us to consider balanced and flexible location and scheduling. Their bosses didn’t like it and called them entitled, but when the pandemic hit, they had off-site work systems up and running in no time. Can you imagine what transitioning to work-from-home would have been like if they hadn’t been practicing?

Gen Z may be the bravest of all. They were born in the shadow of 9/11, grew up during the Great Recession, felt the threat of mass shootings at school and elsewhere, watched the opioid epidemic, survived pandemic isolation, trail-blazed on social media, and continue to navigate tremendous political, environmental, and social upheaval. Like their Traditionalist great grandparents, they have every reason to be self-absorbed and angry. They come to adulthood having already grappled with the rights to Life and Liberty, and established that happiness requires self-care: flexibility, mental health support, and most of all justice for the differences. And they have made abundantly clear that ignoring environmental justice is bunk.

So what happens when Brave Americans of all ages—with different experiences and perspectives, offer unique and important generational gifts—share the purpose of fulfilling our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? My guess is they’ll find a way for our Democratic Republic to continue for another 250 years.

Happy Independence Day

More soon.

Mary