Honoring our best and brightest
For many Americans, the spectre of war is remote -- an exhibition seen through the television view screen. We too often vacantly notice a 20-second film clip or journalistic account of fighting in some distant part of the world, then busy ourselves with the humdrum of life.
And for those of us blessed by birth under the constitutional rule of law, any war seems far removed; distant from our everyday lives. But for many of America's 25 million living veterans, war has been as much a part of life as has family, faith, and freedom.
America's veterans have uplifted hundreds of millions of lives around the globe and provided security for our country and the world. They have repeatedly demonstrated to all people that freedom is the mightiest force on Earth.
But as important as it is to remember our living veterans, it is equally important to remember that all of the conflicts that touched their lives also touched the lives of their families and friends who waited and worried at home.
Veterans Day, 11 November, 2009
Each May on Memorial Day, we honor those veterans who are no longer with us, who served and died for those they held dear, for the liberty they cherished, and the honored traditions they strove to preserve. It is a time of somber remembrance.
But on Veterans Day, we are offered an opportunity to participate in something truly special: Remembering that from"By remembering their service and their sacrifice, we recognize the tradition of freedom these patriots fought to preserve." the least of us to the mightiest, we are a nation of patriots, and to honor the sacrifices of those who selflessly served.
In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The "war to end all wars" was over . . .
Each year on 11/11, regardless of the day, we Americans pay homage to all of our men and women who have served honorably in the military during times of war and peace. By remembering their service and their sacrifice, we recognize the tradition of freedom these patriots fought to preserve.
This privilege to honor our best and brightest seems especially poignant today. The American people are awakening to the realization that we often take for granted our American values and institutions, our freedom to dissent, to participate in public events, and our right to live served by a government of choice rather than ruled by a government of force.
It therefore seems appropriate that on Veterans Day 2009, as we acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of those who served America, we acknowledge our responsibility to retain the liberties they valiantly stood guard to preserve.
The poppies of Flanders Fields
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD, Canadian Army, penned one of the most memorable war poems ever written. The World War I surgeon had just spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient in Belgium (Flanders).
According to Colonel McCrae, it had been an exhausting, frightening ordeal in Hades. Afterward, in a nearby cemetery, McCrae saw wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches. They moved him to write:
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae's words are just as moving today. And the poppies?
On Veterans Day, paper and wire poppies are worn as the symbol of remembrance, a reminder of the blood-red flower that still grows on the former battlefields of France and Belgium. The poppies serve as reminders of nature's ability to withstand the destructive elements of war by men, a symbol of hope in a period of human despair.
This Veterans Day you will see our American veterans out and about, selling poppies for you to wear in your lapel. The poppies which we wear are made by Disabled American Veterans, and your money goes toward their support.
So on Veterans Day, pay homage to our veterans, wear a poppy in support, and remember: Veterans Day is not to glorify war, but to honor the sacrifice made by the best and brightest amongst us for our freedom.
Hype and Chains.