Are We Losing Our Toughness? [OPINION]

Remember when Americans were tough? Our parents were tough. Our grandparents were tough. Many of our parents were children of the Great Depression. Their fathers fought in one of the World Wars, and they came of age during the Korean conflict.

We grew up with photographs and radios and black and white television with no cable and no internet. The phone was attached to the wall, or on the table, and was often a party line shared by several other families.

We walked to school unless the snow was too deep and classes were canceled. We darned socks, cooked from scratch in the pre-microwave era and ate what was served or went to bed hungry.

When we got hurt, we brushed it off and kept playing. We played outside and hated to come in when it got dark. We rode our bikes to practice. We didn't need play dates, cry rooms, gender neutrality, teal pumpkins or Ritalin. We were tough.

The Journal of American College Health has released a study that claims many students are exhibiting symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of President Trump's election in 2016. The study looked at 769 psychology students at Arizona State University and found about 25 percent of respondents reported symptoms of PTSD.

PTSD? Poor little snowflakes.

Joey Jones, a retired Marine Corps bomb technician who lost both of his legs in a bomb blast while serving in Afghanistan, offered his thoughts on the study to Fox & Friends:

"What these people felt might be a self-imposed stress disorder, but it's the equivalent to a bad hair day," he said. "It's not the equivalent to putting your buddy in a bag. It's not the equivalent to trying to save someone's life and watching it slip away in the middle of combat."

"Men and women recover daily from disorders of post-traumatic stress. And simply being upset over an election, in my opinion, doesn't rate something like that," he said.

Thanks, Joey Jones, for your service to me and your country. Hey, maybe we are still tough after all.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.