Among the many things that make our nation unique is the fact that we make a point of routinely saluting our veterans. This is a tradition in which we are proud to participate. We do so at sporting events, religious services, political rallies, at Boy Scout meetings and 4H clubs, even in neighborhood pubs. (I’m looking at you, Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own.) Most importantly, we set aside a special day each year in their honor. This is that day.
Honoring veterans means something slightly different to each of us, I suspect. Our reflections can be intensely personal if we are particularly close to a veteran or if we emigrated from a country where our military has served overseas. We may think of grand homecomings and tickertape parades (of which we should have more), or we may think of the homeless veteran whose wounds are not visible but very real nonetheless. We think of heroism and sacrifice, love and loss, great joy and deep sorrow.
In my own reflections I find myself continually returning to thoughts of separated families and children growing up with a parent, usually a father, far away in a dangerous part of the world. I consider what it would be like to spend a year deployed and to have my child born while I was away, not being able to meet her until after she had already learned to crawl and say her first word. I think of the fear, loneliness, and busy hands of the spouse left behind to hope and pray for a safe return while playing the part of single parent for an extended period of time.
Though I think of these things, I cannot truly imagine them. I was able to be present at the birth of both of my daughters. I have never spent a stretch of more than a few nights apart from my wife or kids on a business or hunting trip. I know that our veterans, including those who are unmarried and without children, sacrifice deeply in their separation from family and loved ones. I know this and yet I know nothing of this because I have not experienced it myself. This is the crux of why we honor our veterans. Their sacrifices have made possible our leisure and comfort. Toby Keith said it well in his song, American Soldier:
And I will always do my duty, no matter what the price.
I’ve counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice.
Oh, and I don’t want to die for you,
But if dying’s asked of me,
I’ll bear that cross with honor,
‘Cause freedom don’t come free.I’m an American soldier, an American,
Beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand,
When liberty’s in jeopardy I will always do what’s right,
I’m out here on the front lines. Sleep in peace tonight.
American soldier, I’m an American soldier.
To all of our veterans; thank you, God bless and keep you, may your sacrifices never have to be repeated, and may our nation never forget.