Opinion: Another viewpoint: Be kind, thoughtful - and sacrifice a little

You know why they call people my age Boomers? Because we were the Baby Boom, the explosive result of all those soldiers coming home from World War II and all those women who were happy to see them.

We were born out of relief that the war was over, that there weren’t supposed to be any more wars, and that prosperity loomed. And loom it did.

Suburbs sprang up to house all the happy new families, and the American Dream was reborn after years of war, economic depression, recovery, and more war. And boy, was my generation indulged, especially compared to the generations that immediately preceded us.

We might not have invented privilege, but we defined it. And every generation since has become even more accustomed to having our creature comforts, when we want them.

I know a little something about America’s hard times, mainly World War I and the Depression, from school history lessons. But when it came to World War II, it seemed I could never learn enough, I guess because I’d been born in such close proximity to it, five years after it ended. It was still on people’s minds when I was a kid; they talked about it, teachers taught us about it, we watched films in school about the concentration camps and the relentless bombing of Europe.

I’ve lost count of the number of books I’ve read about that war, its beginnings, its atrocities, and its consequences.

One of those consequences was a concept very few living Americans have any real idea of: sacrifice.

World War II consumed everything in its path. Nonessential industries were converted to production for the war effort, and most of the country’s food and material goods were used to feed and supply the troops. As a result, everybody had to cut back drastically, and most of them did it, if not gladly, then willingly.

They understood that their sacrifices were minor compared to the sacrifices made by those fighting the war.

To make sure that what was available to the general public was distributed fairly, the government began a strict rationing program. The program had three purposes: to regulate what sellers could charge for their goods, to keep people from fighting over shortages, and to make sure that everything wasn’t snapped up by the wealthy.

What was rationed? Everything from penicillin to butter, from shoes to sugar.

In order to produce tanks and planes and weapons of war, U.S. automakers quit making civilian cars. Those cars that hadn’t been sold were strictly rationed. You had to prove a real need in order to be able to buy one, or gasoline or motor oil or tires. And if you already had more than five tires, the government confiscated them. The war had also disrupted trade, and rubber was scarce.

The reason dry dog food exists is because of the war effort’s need for metal. Dog food could no longer be sold in tin cans, so manufacturers had to dehydrate it. Because toothpaste tubes were made of metal, you had to turn in your used tube in order to buy a new one.

If we had it bad in America, it was nothing compared to Europe. The war, after all, was fought on their soil, so in addition to channeling everything to the war effort, they had to contend with having bombs dropped on them. In Great Britain, rationing sometimes limited a person to one egg per week and allowed fruit only to children, even long after the war ended and the country struggled to rebuild.

So, people learned how to sacrifice because they had to. And bedlam was avoided because the government took over for a while in an emergency situation. Yes, there was propaganda involved. The government used every tool it had to convince people to do the right thing. And by and large, people did. They accepted the way things had to be, and lived with it.

We need to do that, people. It’s hard, because as I said, we Boomers and every succeeding generation have had it remarkably easy. We haven’t had to make many sacrifices, especially as a society.

I think it’s time we started. Yes, it’s a drag to “shelter in place.” It’s sad that people are stripping the store shelves bare. It’s also sad that people are dying in droves. This might not be wartime, but it’s dead serious.

So far, stores are beginning to ration stuff themselves. Help them out. Don’t go out and buy all the hand sanitizer and toilet paper you can fit in your car. Don’t fight over stuff. Remember that we’re all in this together, and leave enough on the shelf for somebody else.

Practice social distancing, even if you still believe people are just getting colds and the media is overreacting. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and nobody’s overreacting. These really are desperate times.

Have a care for your fellow man and woman. Be cool. Be kind. Be thoughtful.

Sacrifice a little.

Linda Quintana is the copy editor for the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact her at:

lgq505@hotmail.com