Like a buoy on the water, people rise and fall as per the needs of the moment.

Humans are amazing at how much we can get done when we need to. Deadline approaching? Working around the clock without breaks except for food and bathroom. Early flight? Out of bed before 4 AM and on the way to the airport shortly thereafter. On the other end of the spectrum, when there is no great need or pressure, one might sleep until noon or lollygag around the house and accomplish nothing. That is called normal.

Let’s imagine a young man who was sent to Europe during World War II and came home in late 1945. He was taken away from whatever he was doing — school, work, family — and sent far away. When he hit the beaches of Normandy, he saw friends killed in the most hideous ways. The war did not end for him there. He continued to fight his way to Paris and beyond. Nearly a year would pass before Hitler’s suicide and the official fall of the Third Reich. Along the way, he saw a lot of death, including of those close to him from basic training until they died in combat or the freezing winter. He saw massive destruction of cities and malnutrition on an industrial scale. He tried to give chocolate or a few cigarettes to civilians he encountered but understood that the destruction and devastation were beyond anything imaginable. After returning home, he somehow went back to his previous life and adapted to a new world of American power that included manufacturing, new cities, lots of babies, cars, modern appliances, early air travel, and more.

Those of that time are often — and correctly — called “The Greatest Generation.” One can argue that they had no choice in all that I described above. If they had refused to go, they would have been thrown in jail. If they had acted cowardly on the battlefield, they could have been shot by an officer. All that is true. But in the........

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