Today is Veteran’s Day.*
The Great War figured largely in stories told to me in my childhood. My father’s middle brother ran away at 15 to fight in World War I. He returned an alcoholic wanderer who dropped in and out of sight until his early death. He was a bit of a legend and a horrible warning of the effects of war.
Today I thank all of the men and women around the world who have fought and are fighting for their countries.
For the soldiers who love their work and wouldn’t trade their position for anything, for the soldiers who have been pushed, shoved, intimidated, or financially forced into service, and for those who have made the decision that there is a job that needs to be done and that they are capable of doing it well; I am grateful. All of these men and women are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.
As much as I decry the need for us to be at war and to arm ourselves against other human beings in our world, I wholeheartedly support the men and women who do this work for us.
And I dream.
I dream that everyone can be home for the holidays with the assurance that they won’t need to leave again.
I dream that every man, woman and child adversely affected by time in their country’s service would be treated and cared for and made whole again in a way that makes them capable of living and working in dignity.
I dream that we could all use our wisdom to understand our part in creating a global climate where armies are necessary, and work to change that.
In the meantime I honor our servicemen on Veteran’s Day in the hope that in one hundred more years, there will be no necessity for this holiday except as a historical commemoration.
xxoo
*Wikipedia: November 11th was first made a national holiday, Armistice Day, in 1919 by Woodrow Wilson. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the armistice in the war to end all wars.) Dwight Eisenhower signed the change to Veterans Day in 1954.
November 11, 2009
A Letter to my Children 
It’s a day when we all should be thinking of what other’s sacrifice for us to have the freedoms we have and strive to assure they are not making them in vain.
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Well said.
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I spent the six days between the 7th and the 12th morning with a dear friend who is a retired Colonel of our Artillery Corps. He was wounded in the 1965 war and again in the 1971 war and still carries the effects with constant pain. For all that, he is a grand man who kept me enchanted with stories of his soldiering and post soldiering days. We have never been able to just be with each other and talk and we made this happen with his wonderful wife keeping us well fed and undisturbed to catch up with so much that we had missed out on each others lives including honoring some mutual friends lost to enemy action.
While I agree that ideally we should not have soldiers going back to war, in our situation with a very hostile neighbour who is the hot bed for terrorism, it will be just wishful thinking.
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I’m happy that you had time with your friend. These moments are precious, aren’t they? And I agree…it is wishful thinking. However, if one is to wish at all, why not wish for the optimum.
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