NO ONE IS COMING, IT’S UP TO US. That’s a First Responder slogan, but I thought of it as I was finishing the latest Andrew Wareham novel. (I guess I should have mentioned earlier that it was out). It’s a WWII RAF novel. There’s a minor character, a superior officer to the protagonist who is a famous WWI ace but who isn’t very good at his job, but the protagonist realizes that his superior knows that he’s not that good at his job but sticks to it anyway because for all his flaws there’s nobody better available. And he feels a bit of reluctant sympathy and admiration for someone he had previously looked down on.

I kind of feel that way about my whole generation. We’re not the best you can imagine, we’re just the best that’s available. And I guess some of us, at least, will keep trying to do our best.