Today is Veterans Day–a day that I would argue is one of the most important federal holidays that we have in America. Personally, I have a fond respect for our military personal and veterans because my father is veteran from the Vietnam War and I have a very close friend that is currently in the military that has been abroad fighting in the current war. I just wanted to take this time to drop a little history on Veteran’s Day and why we should thank our veterans for their service.
A national holiday, Veterans Day was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 originally as Armistice Day to show reverence for the troops that gave their lives to fight for our country. A few years later official ceremonies were added to honor our former military personel and following in tradition, we celebrate the holiday every year on November 11th.
I learned the importance of Veterans Day growing up hearing my father tell me his war stories when I was a child. They were stories that told of the heroic aspects of war, traveling to exotic lands, eating exotic foods, meeting exotic women and fighting the enemy and winning. I remember being greatly intrigued by these stories and was both extremely proud and excited to know that my father was a war hero.
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In my spare time I would often sneak to look through his old photo albums full of his old pictures from Vietnam with him posing in his glasses, military fatigues, helmet and of course his rifle. I would often envision him to be just like Rambo in the movies with his big machine guns and bazookas blowing up the bad guys. However, as I grew older the stories began to change. War became a lot less glamorous and I really developed a respect for the sacrifices my father made, the good friends he made and lost when he was away fighting as an Army soldier in Vietnam. I now have this same respect for all veterans and our current military personel that sacrifice so much to fight and defend us every day.
Though I’m not a supporter of any war, I do believe and understand why we must show respect to our veterans. We should give them their due respect because they sacrificed so much to keep us safe. During their time at war, America had very dangerous enemies that wanted to harm its citizens. If it were not for these veterans sacrificing their time, general health and lives to defeat our enemies we would never know how our current standard of living would be. Just imagine if World War II was lost for instance. I wouldn’t be writing this post right now and many of us wouldn’t be around to be read it either.
So, if you can, I would strongly urge you to take the time out of your day to thank a veteran for sacrificing a part of his or her life to defend your freedom. It can be the mail lady, your bus driver, the local store owner, your boss or even the doorman in your building. Just let them know that appreciate their service and the selfless sacrifices they made for you.
