Nostalgia part 3:

We already discussed victories, heroes, legends and the Age of Better Men—War heroes who saved the day. But what about courageous men and women who stood up to tyrants? In the film, Star Wars (1977)—the heroics of Luke and Han give us hope that good can triumph over evil.

Only recently has Lucas Film shown the darker side of the rebellion and the not as honorable or heroic things the rebels did to win. With the film Rogue One and the streaming show Andor, our heroes don’t always look quite heroic. These are not the stories we want to hear about our heroes. This gives us to a darker view of the past. Often one that we can’t get too excited about.

In US history, there is a generation called the Greatest Generation. Young American men and women who stepped out of isolation and obscurity to challenge the world powers and stop the advance of Prussian tyranny in Europe. We rarely talk about the mustard gas, or the mines, or a number of new technologies that changed the face of war forever between 1914 and 1918[1]. Culturally, there is an intense need for legend over the uncomfortable details. Legends inspire. History shows us to be merely human.

I’ve spent years trying to really grasp what John Ford meant by “print the legend.” Personally, I want to know the good and the bad. I want to be inspired, but I want to know what really happened too. This saying always rubbed me wrong. To me, “print the legend” meant print the lie. But I don’t think that’s what he meant.

The courage of the soldiers, who willingly faced an unknown threat in a new warfare, is more important to succeeding generations. For me, knowing the horrors they endured makes that courage all the more sweat. Print the legend means to look at the great things that courage and sacrifice can bring. The result is bitter sweet. Sorrow and joy. The men of World War I could stop the advance of tyranny. That is their legacy. That is their legend.

[1] The details of war can terrify. The details of World War I inspired the creation of a new genre, the dystopia.