We honor our veterans today — for the freedoms they’ve ensured; for the protection they have provided through our history, and continue to provide; for the call they so bravely answer; and for their willingness to offer their own life in the name of our country.
While today is not Veterans Day (that occasion will be marked far and wide on Monday), what this county and its people have shown in the past week is that honoring our veterans and uniformed military personnel who serve across this land and abroad is not merely limited to the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Like the selfless acts of those in the Armed Forces who dedicate their lives in the service of our country, that gratitude is enduring.
This community has shown as much just this week with Union Elementary’s Veterans Day Run, which gave youngsters a chance to learn about the branches of the military and the sacrifice of veterans even as they scampered about, running and exercising while also paying homage to the men and women who serve. Much the same is true of all those who participate in some way in our first-ever Veterans Day magazine, inserted in today’s paper. Whether they were interviewed, wrote the stories or participated by way of advertising which makes the magazine possible, it was all in an effort to say thank you to those we respect so much.
All these, and many more, are tributes that are apt year-round, and it is fitting that they were held as a complement to events that will take place Nov. 11, rather than in lieu of those annual festivities.
In unselfish and countless ways, men and women throughout history have offered themselves to the call to duty, one that has taken them across the world and into dangerous, violent places where their fates were — and continue to be today — uncertain, their return home not always likely.
One cannot celebrate Veterans Day without thinking of the countless thousands of men and women still in harm’s way in places around the world, battling vicious hate-mongers. Like those who came before them, these brave soldiers are putting their lives on the line each and every day in service to each and every one of us.
And we thank them.
We may question why there has to be war, as we’ve done throughout history; we may even question why our soldiers have to be in foreign lands tending to business that, on the surface at least, has little to do with America, but we should never question the loyalty, the selfless acts of bravery and the willingness to serve that each of those who wear this country’s uniform have given and continue to give when the call goes out.
They answer with an unwavering conviction just as every soldier who has come before them has done. It’s a loyalty hard to fathom, one that often goes without consideration until we celebrate holidays like the one we observe today and again on Monday, paying a much deserved tribute to some of our most unselfish and often unsung heroes.
Today, as we contemplate all that has happened in our country since its birth, and all those who have given so much of themselves, let us remember with love and respect all our veterans. Let us lift our voices in praise and prayer for the hundreds of thousands of men and women across the United States who have served our country so valiantly, and who continue to serve it today.
They have stepped into harm’s way with a bravery many of us cannot imagine; they have answered the call — to help in times of war and disaster, in times of medical emergency and peacekeeping.
Some are young, just starting their heroic careers; others are older now, with well-weathered faces and hands, hands which battled on the front lines, hands which acted as a shield to protect their brother and sister and our country, hands which tell the story of the tragedies they have experienced, the endurance they had, the love and patriotism they felt and, to this day, still feel.
Their faces, too, paint a picture of courage and honor, the same picture painted by our soldiers of today, just as patriotic, just as courageous, and just as selfless in their service to our country.
Though often animated and kind, thoughtful and thought-provoking, all their faces often change quickly, with the sound of a plane, the backfiring of a car, a shot fired from a gun. It is then that the stories come alive again, and their faces tell us of battles lost and wars won.
We owe them so much, yet compared to the price they have paid, and continue to pay, we have little to give.
But give we should, and not just on special days set aside to honor them. Instead, we should give in some way to them each and every day. Our veterans deserve our remembrance; they merit our respect, our love and our benevolence. They have earned our thanks.