No doubt kids today are much more coddled than previous generations. But we aren't facing a fascist threat now (except I suppose in many cities that have recently burned). And WWII and every war had very deep psychological and social costs. My WWII uncle wouldn't speak of his experience until just before passing and then only talked to me. He hid behind dead bodies at Normandy for significant portions of the invasion. That kind of stuff is going to change some to a point that they really struggle mentally. But they were generally stronger men. And yet, every war carries very high suicide rates during and after. I've personally spent a good bit of time in multiple combat zones and some of those that I served with struggle every day. All of these men and women sacrificed for their country in a time of war. And many still struggle.
So now kids go from the most coddled and privileged generation in our nation's history with the least experience of sacrificing to having their world, their passions, their entire social structure taken away for what most of them would think is nothing (and the statistics back them up for their age group). Soldiers sacrificed for their country. These kids are sacrificing because of irrational fear. Soldiers stood up in the face of danger. These kids are forced to cower and hide. Soldiers leaned on each other and formed life long bonds that those who never served in a combat zone don't fully understand. Our kids are being forced to give up their bonds, give up their entire social network, and lean on maybe just a brother or sister if they have one. And again, it's all for a 99.999% survival rate according to the CDC if they even would get the virus.
We are forcing the softest generation to date to give up their world (even Soldiers in combat zones had sports and games and a social group) for what they have determined correctly is absolutely no good reason. Just because a bunch of adults refuse to consider the CDC data and appropriately analyze risk. Because a bunch of old people are selfish and won't let these kids live because they think it might possibly affect their risk as they still go out to big box stores and groceries. We're forcing young millennials (in competition for softest generation), many with a hundred thousand in college debt, to lose their jobs and delay their opportunities to get some financial foothold since a very disproportionate job impact is to those who were least experienced and established.
Did we not think this selfishness would come at a very steep cost? From coddled to isolation for 99.999% (kids) to 99.995% (young adults) risk if they get the virus going into the 8th month now with no apparent end date after telling them it was 15 days to flatten the curve? It's selfish. I don't know how else to describe what we are forcing on kids, maybe irrational, cruel, sad. I do think these generations could use some toughening up but I don't think go hide at the slightest hint of risk does it. And you want to teach them the lesson of sacrificing but it should be reinforced by those sacrifices earning them something. For our WWII heroes it was a lifetime of gratitude. For me as a kid running a paper route it was learning work ethic. But these kids are learning to sacrifice because older people are selfish, won't isolate themselves if they can't tolerate their age category risk, and are projecting irrational fears.