Older survivors of the 20th century sometimes speak of the “different planet” that they come from. Being one myself, I can speak of what makes us “aliens” say this.

The boys I hanged out with in the 1940s didn’t know that they were supposed to be having a rough time because they were teenagers. Although the world was as troubled as ever -– older brothers, uncles, friends and relatives were on battlefields fighting a terrible World War II -– they nevertheless took the world and themselves as they were. What I mean is that, in spite of its tragedies and triumphs, its ups and downs, life was understood and accepted as being ultimately good in itself, thanks to God. It was not a stage on the way to something far better than life on earth, except perhaps heaven.

Was this an admission of resignation? I’d call it evidence of being aware of reality and wise toward it. A sample of such awareness came in a 1948 editorial of my high school newspaper. The student editor wrote, regarding the aftermath of World War II, “Some of our elders are leaving God out of the picture in the example of the United Nations. God or mention of Him is left out of every meeting that takes place anywhere the U.N. or its sub-branches meet. This is what we as teen-agers should avoid if we wish to live peaceful, happy lives.”

Because one’s school years figure heavily in how we think and act in life, some words about........

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