We lived with the privilege of having grown up being raised by the Greatest Generation of men and women of a century. They survived and endured two world wars and a historic Great Depression. No sacrifice was left unchallenged, from the front lines of the wars to all those left at home to farm and run the industries left so we could manage to survive.

They learned the history and lessons of minorities, of race, gender, cultural inheritance and regionalism as well as the socioeconomic differences during those times. By their actions and commitments, they taught us and showed us what moral principles guided them.

Everywhere we went, we saw and learned to identify the heroes who stood tall among all of us as well as the cowards who shrank in the shadows. We were taught to respect those everyday people who walked among us, as they were held in high esteem by those who knew them or knew of their deeds. Those identities are known by all throughout history as the everyday heroes who put their lives and fortunes on the line at every turn and left their indelible marks in history. The cowards were disparaged and forgotten in their presence.

There were the movies like the old westerns that taught us to recognize the differences so we could be reminded. Every kid I grew up with new who Shane was, or Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and we were allowed to emulate them for their good and brave behavior. And, there were the real life ones that we all knew then.

One of my first memories as a small child was what happened in our small Midwest village as everyone was eager to get their family and lives back to the new normal when WWII came to an end. We had three churches in our small village that would ring their bells every Sunday to announce their services and would also ring their bells when there was a celebration of a wedding or notifying of a funeral service or a tornado warning. Every ring was identifiable.

There was another unending bell sound when a soldier from our area was coming home from the war. Up and down the train lines, the local telephone operators would be notified and in turn would notify the churches and families, the town officials, to let them know the train was coming and bringing home a soldier from the war.

My grandfather would take my hand or carry me to the train station as we joined neighbors along the way, shop owners, people who worked in the bank, the gas stations, the diners. We became a small parade as farmers came along in their trucks or on their tractors and would learn who was coming home.

I remember sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders while each and every person waiting welcomed and thanked the soldier who served his community and his country. I remember when my two uncles finally came home and how glad our family was. We were too young to understand what war was all about, but we understood the somber respect like the return of our neighbor’s son when his casket arrived and when the stone cutter chiseled his name on our village honor monument.

With every major disruption in our lives, the legacies are recalled and what they taught guides how we react and how we face our challenges.  Some among us probably did not live up to the sacrifices of those who raised us, but who they were is etched in our memories and comes to the fore of our cognition when we realize what they went through.

Yet, I wonder about those who were denied those privileges. Whose guidance raised them? Who taught them integrity and resilience in so many difficult and trying times? Who created the moral principles for them to live by? I am saddened realizing that there are those who grow up without the necessities of life’s lessons that remind us in every culture that we are human.

The progeny of both heroes and cowards is left behind in every generation that lived through it and those still emerging. It is the legacy of heroes and cowards — yesterday, today, and tomorrow — leading us all to do what is right, humane and moral. Among us are those who carry forth the traditions and those who, regrettably, trample on it. We are all capable of identifying them.