Legacy
06/09/12 05:29
The Great Depression had a lasting effect on American Society. The historical combination of a depression followed by a World War continues to shape the way we think and act. Tom Brokaw coined the term “The Greatest Generation” to describe those born between 1910 and 1927. They endured significant deprivation at the beginning of their lives and sacrificed deeply during their young adult years. They went on to build up communities and organizations and contribute significantly to society in general. They were, for the most part, very successful. They build businesses and acquired wealth.
But none of us live forever and we are now in the season of the death of the members of that generation. Visit any national cemetery and you will notice a steady stream of World War II veterans being buried.
One of the challenges for every generation is the challenge of passing on wisdom, wealth, values, and faith to succeeding generations. This has been a significant challenge for the members of the generation that came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. For the most part, they were not the recipients of significant inherited wealth. As a group they were vastly more financially successful than their parents’ generation. The Depression meant that there were fewer family businesses and family farms passed from parents to children than in previous generations. Prior to the Great Depression, vocations were frequently handed down from father to son. Professions tended to be grouped by families. Family names often reflected the vocations that were “in the family.” Coopers made barrels. Baxters were bankers. Chandlers were traders. Colliers were coal miners. Jaggers sold fish. Tuckers cleaned clothes. Wrights worked construction. The list went on and on.
That cycle was pretty much history by the time of World War I. For those who came of age during the Depression and World War II, it was practically non-existent. But the memory lingers. The desire to pass a family business from one generation to the next continued.
For the most part, the transition from “The Greatest Generation” to the baby boomers has not been smooth. Only about one third of family businesses are passed to the next generation. The statistics are even worse when it comes to farms. One study by the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University concludes that the next generation is in danger of having virtually no family farms.
We are quick to assign blame in this difficult transition. Income and estate taxes are blamed. Poor Government programs are blamed. Tight credit is blamed. You can sit around the table in any coffee shop and find no shortage of finger pointing and lamenting over the difficulty of passing a legacy from one generation to another.
The truth is that The Greatest Generation was a generation that did demonstrate greatness in work, sacrifice, contributions to society and a host of other arenas. They didn’t, as a group, demonstrate the best planning for generational transfer. In many ways they lived as if they would always be in control. They lived as if they could continue to make all of the family decisions long after their children had reached middle age. The transitions of family property, businesses, wealth and other assets is not going smoothly.
The problems, of course, do not belong to a single generation. The Baby Boomers have been labeled as being less productive, less responsible and less committed than preceding generations. There is some truth to the labels. The Boomers were much later coming into wealth and power in society than preceding generations in part because of the size of the contributions of the preceding generation, but also in part because they were slow to assume responsibility. I guess I should say “we” instead of “they,” as I am myself a baby boomer.
The Vietnam War has largely been seen as a failure in American Society. That failure, if that is what it was, it was not engineered by the Baby Boomer Generation. The planners, generals, government and military leaders were predominantly members of their parents’ generation. The label has stuck, however.
The Baby Boomers have lived most of their lives with fewer financial resources than their parents. The American dream of each generation having more wealth than the preceding one may never have been fully sustainable, but at least the line of growth is not uninterrupted. There are ups and downs in every growth line. One of the symbols of the difference was illustrated in the Penn State study of family farms. Whereas preceding generations tended to stay in the farm house and build a new house for the younger generation, in the transition from The Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers the trend dramatically shifted. The predominant pattern for this generational shift was for the parents to move into the new house and the children to remain in the old home.
I have no particular knowledge as to whether this is good or bad. As the oldest son, I had some significant and wonderful conversations with my father about the possibilities of passing our family business from one generation to the next. While I knew that this was an option, I was encouraged to explore different vocations. My father was deeply supportive of my education and my pursuit of a career different from his. As it turned out, my father died at a young age and my mother faced three decades of widowhood. Our family had significantly less resources to pass from one generation to the next than would had been the case had my father lived another decade or more. Still, we have not been particularly graceful in our dealings with the transition from one generation to the next. The handling of the estate has not brought the surviving siblings closer to each other.
The dynamics and emotions in my family are mild, however, in comparison to the ones I see in other families. In all too many cases the legacy is significant conflict and estrangement. People my age may not be “the greatest generation,” but we seem to know how to fight over the assets our parents accumulated.
I wish I could end this blog with a pithy conclusion offering solutions to the difficulties of transition from one generation to the next. I can’t. I observe many families with a sense of tragedy.
My prayer is that we can learn from these experiences and somehow be a bit more graceful as we pass our legacy on to the next generation that we are as we receive the legacy from the preceding generation.
Of one thing I am certain: The most important aspects of legacy – the most valuable aspects of inheritance – cannot be measured in dollars and cents. The qualities, abilities, values and faith we inherit from our parents are far more valuable than any material item. Let others have the wealth. I’m blessed by having inherited the faith of preceding generations. I plan to pass it on.
But none of us live forever and we are now in the season of the death of the members of that generation. Visit any national cemetery and you will notice a steady stream of World War II veterans being buried.
One of the challenges for every generation is the challenge of passing on wisdom, wealth, values, and faith to succeeding generations. This has been a significant challenge for the members of the generation that came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. For the most part, they were not the recipients of significant inherited wealth. As a group they were vastly more financially successful than their parents’ generation. The Depression meant that there were fewer family businesses and family farms passed from parents to children than in previous generations. Prior to the Great Depression, vocations were frequently handed down from father to son. Professions tended to be grouped by families. Family names often reflected the vocations that were “in the family.” Coopers made barrels. Baxters were bankers. Chandlers were traders. Colliers were coal miners. Jaggers sold fish. Tuckers cleaned clothes. Wrights worked construction. The list went on and on.
That cycle was pretty much history by the time of World War I. For those who came of age during the Depression and World War II, it was practically non-existent. But the memory lingers. The desire to pass a family business from one generation to the next continued.
For the most part, the transition from “The Greatest Generation” to the baby boomers has not been smooth. Only about one third of family businesses are passed to the next generation. The statistics are even worse when it comes to farms. One study by the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University concludes that the next generation is in danger of having virtually no family farms.
We are quick to assign blame in this difficult transition. Income and estate taxes are blamed. Poor Government programs are blamed. Tight credit is blamed. You can sit around the table in any coffee shop and find no shortage of finger pointing and lamenting over the difficulty of passing a legacy from one generation to another.
The truth is that The Greatest Generation was a generation that did demonstrate greatness in work, sacrifice, contributions to society and a host of other arenas. They didn’t, as a group, demonstrate the best planning for generational transfer. In many ways they lived as if they would always be in control. They lived as if they could continue to make all of the family decisions long after their children had reached middle age. The transitions of family property, businesses, wealth and other assets is not going smoothly.
The problems, of course, do not belong to a single generation. The Baby Boomers have been labeled as being less productive, less responsible and less committed than preceding generations. There is some truth to the labels. The Boomers were much later coming into wealth and power in society than preceding generations in part because of the size of the contributions of the preceding generation, but also in part because they were slow to assume responsibility. I guess I should say “we” instead of “they,” as I am myself a baby boomer.
The Vietnam War has largely been seen as a failure in American Society. That failure, if that is what it was, it was not engineered by the Baby Boomer Generation. The planners, generals, government and military leaders were predominantly members of their parents’ generation. The label has stuck, however.
The Baby Boomers have lived most of their lives with fewer financial resources than their parents. The American dream of each generation having more wealth than the preceding one may never have been fully sustainable, but at least the line of growth is not uninterrupted. There are ups and downs in every growth line. One of the symbols of the difference was illustrated in the Penn State study of family farms. Whereas preceding generations tended to stay in the farm house and build a new house for the younger generation, in the transition from The Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers the trend dramatically shifted. The predominant pattern for this generational shift was for the parents to move into the new house and the children to remain in the old home.
I have no particular knowledge as to whether this is good or bad. As the oldest son, I had some significant and wonderful conversations with my father about the possibilities of passing our family business from one generation to the next. While I knew that this was an option, I was encouraged to explore different vocations. My father was deeply supportive of my education and my pursuit of a career different from his. As it turned out, my father died at a young age and my mother faced three decades of widowhood. Our family had significantly less resources to pass from one generation to the next than would had been the case had my father lived another decade or more. Still, we have not been particularly graceful in our dealings with the transition from one generation to the next. The handling of the estate has not brought the surviving siblings closer to each other.
The dynamics and emotions in my family are mild, however, in comparison to the ones I see in other families. In all too many cases the legacy is significant conflict and estrangement. People my age may not be “the greatest generation,” but we seem to know how to fight over the assets our parents accumulated.
I wish I could end this blog with a pithy conclusion offering solutions to the difficulties of transition from one generation to the next. I can’t. I observe many families with a sense of tragedy.
My prayer is that we can learn from these experiences and somehow be a bit more graceful as we pass our legacy on to the next generation that we are as we receive the legacy from the preceding generation.
Of one thing I am certain: The most important aspects of legacy – the most valuable aspects of inheritance – cannot be measured in dollars and cents. The qualities, abilities, values and faith we inherit from our parents are far more valuable than any material item. Let others have the wealth. I’m blessed by having inherited the faith of preceding generations. I plan to pass it on.