WHAT IS VETERANS DAY FOR?

WHAT IS VETERANS DAY FOR?

 I received this question the other day from my daughter. Not for the first time, probably not even for the 30^th time in the last couple of years.

"WHAT IS VETERANS DAY FOR?" she asked.

 Oh boy…standing in the kitchen, with one kid doing homework at the table, one on the computer playing a game a little too loud for the other at the table to concentrate, and I am trying to figure out what I am cooking with all these baked chicken breasts, that won’t leave one of the kids sitting at the table with their nose turned up in protest….

So, instant agitation sets in as I remembered all the times we sat and I explained that veterans day was to honor and thank the individuals who had fought and died for our freedom etc. Clear enough right? She knows what “Veterans” are, I mean we go to a Veteran's Day Celebration, where there are countless veterans of all ages there, remembering their deployment(s) and their fallen brothers. So surely my explanation was enough?

Right??

Before I retold her the same thing again or said “Oh come on you know what that’s about, don’t act silly” and played her question down, a lot. I thought about it. Instead of getting a little upset that I was going to have to explain it all again, I asked her if I could explain it to her later on. And later on I feel will be tomorrow.

Well going over it in my mind several times I still thought that my answer was pretty self explanatory and very fool proof, until I sat down to write. Writing helps me clear my mind, and then again it jumbles it back up sometimes but either way I usually end up with some part of me that is legible and easier to understand than I am usually.

Perhaps my explanation was the problem, not that my child just kept forgetting, it was that I hadn’t given her the information needed for her to understand the importance of it.

Then I felt ashamed.

To anyone that knows me, you know I hold service men and women very highly, as they should be. But for me not to be able to get the importance of remembering and thanking these individuals across to her and my other two children, kind of threw me for a loop.

I had to do a little thinking, searching. So that when the time comes that she is asked “What is Veterans Day for?”, she will know exactly the right words to use. And maybe one day even thank me for that. (Hey, I can dream.)

To some, Veterans Day is just another day unlike any other. They have no immediate ties to an active service man, woman, or veteran. Or they may know someone who fought in a war, but that’s all it is them. To those, the day goes by like any other day. To those people the definition of a “Veteran” would suffice: former member of the armed forces ; a long-serving member of the military who has had much active experience; somebody who is considerably experienced in something.

To those there are family members of active, inactive, retired and deceased veterans that would love to educate them on what these words truly mean.

I dont’t/can’t/won’t attempt to claim to know what it is like to make the decision to become a soldier and then step on that plane being deployed to a place affectionately called Hell.
 

I am not a mother/father/sister/brother/aunt/daughter/cousin/wife/husband of a service man/woman that has lived through a heart wrenching deployment. But I still love, cherish, and honor every service individual for their immense sacrifices for us. I try my best to educate my children on the truth of what soldiers have to endure. The choices that they are faced with everyday and the life they live as a result of being a soldier.

To me a Veteran is someone who laid down (at least in part) their life for me and every other citizen of this free world. Even the ones who spit on it and take it for granted.

A Veterans blood, tears ,and sweat are the reasons we have the land we do now. A Veterans job didn’t end as they stepped off the plane onto familiar, but somehow now foreign soil. Many Veterans, the ones that were left with the physical and mental capability to continue to work when they returned, have to take jobs at minimum wage no matter what their military experience. Struggling to barely make ends meet, after all their sacrifice. Some Veterans came home with damaged bodies and little to no healthcare willing to assist them, leaving them homeless, jobless, and tired on the streets with no means of changing their situation.

A Veterans job as a soldier is never completed. He/She still has a great deal of pride in this country and will not take it being threatened. Veterans still stand up for this country after all the heartache their decision to fight for is has caused them. If possible I believe those men and women would fight again in a heartbeat despite their limited abilities. Because they are Hero’s.

Hero’s are made from young boys that signed up for this life before they could be considered men. Hero’s are made from women who sign up for this life with children at home. Hero’s are made from the man that signs up for his 4^th deployment knowing his wife wouldn’t stay through another one, but his platoon would need him. Hero’s are made of ordinary men and women choosing to do extraordinary things, for no damn good reason.

To me a Veteran is neither male nor female, a Veteran is neither rank nor stature, a Veteran is one extension of the band of brothers/sisters that form their group as a whole. Deeper than any sports team, deeper than any family bonds could forge, these bonds are unstoppable and completely unselfishly honorable. The bond that binds the group of brothers/sisters who were in combat together could never be broken. It goes beyond the battlefield, beyond heaven, beyond the welcome home celebrations, beyond the birthday parties, beyond bullet wounds, beyond divorce. If the bond could be formed into a metal it would wipe out the need for Humvee’s completely.

To the men and women  that sleep out in the heat or cold tonight away from your loved ones, thinking about them, and the holidays coming up; I am laying here thinking of you tonight. And praying that God be with you and your brothers and sisters there. I pray he hears and answers your prayers.

To those soldiers, service men/women of any kind, veterans, I apologize for not being able to give you the honor that each and every one of you deserve. I apologize that as I sit at home on my computer, a stay at home mom in air conditioning most of the day,  you fight for my right to be this and do this from across the world.  But I thank you with every being of my soul to be allowed the time I have with my children to teach them how to be a better person in a world full of hateful unappreciative people.

I appreciate Veterans. I understand the importance of Veterans Day and I will continue to celebrate Veterans in my house.

This will be my explanation next time one of my children ask me, "What Veterans Day is for?".

I will be ready to answer the questions they have for me tomorrow.

 I pray that I have done you all a little justice.

MEN IN SUITS

Maybe its just my generation of ex-grunge wearing, ex-raver, tattoo loving, blogging, iphone/blackberry using, open minded thinking that makes my opinions seem so far left...right...up...or down. But isn’t it time we get "suits" out of office? I mean since when do these "middle aged” card board cut outs represent us? How can they represent us? What could they possibly know about any of us?

Yeah of course they know who “WE” are because they have writers that throw out great adjectives describing our struggles. Making sure to italicize and or highlight those words that are meant to stick out in our minds. Examples: Hope, Change, New Jobs, Health Care, Weapons of Mass Destruction, 9/11, Al Queda, Terrorists…etc…etc. All to pull at our heart strings and strongest emotions.

But would this or that man ever drive down my street? Hahaha, NO! Would he drive down yours?

Oh sure maybe on his political bandwagon he would pass through our neighborhoods and note the obvious condition of the dilapidated homes, but what he doesn’t see is what’s through our front doors. He doesn’t see past the voting statistics and just how high the chances are of him winning our vote. He doesn’t see the most important things in our lives, our families and our jobs. We have children growing and learning here looking to us for guidance, in a world where the infamous MIS (Men In Suits) are limiting our growth to pad their own pockets. They promise constituents of their utmost respect and attention and leave them choking on the dust spewing from their chauffeured SUV, all the way to their hand crafted cushy new office chair.

Here is the real shocker…Go ahead and sit down…..Ok whatever, I warned you and won’t be blamed of you fall and hurt yourself.

THEY LIE.

That’s right you heard it here, I said it and I will say it again.

THEY LIE TO US.

Yep I said it. Twice.

We all remember the cardboard pop out/punch out dolls with the interchangeable outfits, right? The only difference is this game comes with 1 suit and 100s of interchangeable faces. And sadly the very best part about this game would still be punching out all the (cardboard) faces.

Yet every election rolls around and guess what they have in common with the last 100+ years? They have the same people running for office! Every single election we are faced with an array of “new and improved” card board cut outs of the last elections versions, attempting to tackle the same damn issues that the last ones had claimed they would eradicate while in office. The only politicians who can possibly stand out as different are the ones who have

A. been caught with their pants down

B. favor cigars

c. conceives illegitimate children while running for president and his wife is struggling with breast cancer

D. imprisoned for racketeering

E. “talking” with Madams……….and the list can go on and on.

Its time for something different people! This isn’t working! I can completely understand why so many people around my age are dead set on not voting. If I vote for A. who lies about X and in reality will only harm U then your screwed. BUT if I vote for B. who lies about Y and will only harm me then I get screwed. Until everyone understands and agrees that having interchangeable puppets as OUR voice(s) is not working, then history will continue to repeat itself. What is the point of voting really? Exercising the right not to vote is one of the few rights we have left that we can actually get away with and not be imprisoned..yet.  

This being said I have been a fairly faithful voter, taking my ridicule for my choices in stride and sometimes with pride. I am at a cross roads with the entire idea of Democracy. (Democracy: A Government in which the supreme power is vest in the people) Ideally Democracy would be great to have, but lets face it guys…we are far from a democratic country!

We as a people are not being heard! All we are being told is that if we want to be heard we must vote. Ok, I get that. But if the choices are not what we want/need how is making rash decisions to vote for the “lesser of two evils” any better?????