Today is
Veterans Day.
Today is
the day we honor those who have served our country in foreign wars.
Today is
the time to ponder what our lives would be like if we did not have, if we had
not had, if we had never experienced what it’s like to have someone stand up
for us.
In a
certain sense, this is exactly what a military person does: he or she stands up
against what is negative, what is wrong or oppressive. The goal of the United
States Military is not conquest, it’s simply to protect and defend the American
people and the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign
and domestic. That’s it. That’s the basic oath that we all take. .
. and we take it very, very seriously.
Sometimes
determining what is a threat to this country and to the Constitution is a challenging situation.
Most
Americans take Constitutional guarantees for granted but nothing is ever
guaranteed. Every single American needs to be vigilant to make sure that elected
officials honor the tenants of the US Constitution. Veterans Day not only
honors the soldiers of two World Wars, Korea, Viet Nam, and all the endless
Middle East conflicts, it honors another critically special group.
This day also honors those farmers,
bakers, blacksmiths, silver and tinsmiths, the country doctors and importers
who took up arms to create a country.
They had to make a decision. Stay with the British or get to the business of
nation building. This meant that these mostly quiet men, these souls who only
wanted to live in peace had to fight for
that right to live in peace. Had they not done that several centuries ago,
we, dear friends, would not be having this conversation.
But they
were not the only ones to serve the mission of making a new nation. There is a
wonderful statement about all of those families who stayed behind to try to run
the farm, manage crops, raise animals and build families: They also serve who only sit and wait. But these women weren’t sitting and they weren’t idly waiting!
Think of all of those women who worked tirelessly to manage their farms through
brutal winters and humid summers to create properties that would produce an
income without their husbands. They
didn’t just give up. They got to work! Think about their fear as British
soldiers came and took all that they had, ‘commandering’ it for the King.
Perhaps this outright theft put extra steel in their slender backbones. Maybe
these women and children realized that if they all didn’t take a stand against
tyranny, then they would still be part of the oppressive remnants of the feudal
system that had plagued Europe for centuries.
Perhaps
these women and children weren’t physically standing beside Washington on that bitter
cold, wintery day of December 25th 1776 when General Washington
crossed the Delaware River to attack the British and the Hessian troops. No,
they may not have been there, but these women were supporting their husbands
who were with Washington. This particular battle was a turning point in the
war. Thousands of men had already died, morale was low, families were weary of
war and still they did not give up. Let us honor them all on this day.
Freedom is
never easy. Honor, integrity, clarity of mission and the desire to open doors
for the oppressed are the real mission of any veteran. However, the defense of
the Constitution is so critical that let us not forget that this document is
the foundation for democracy itself. Men and women live and die, but ideals,
the ideals of freedom from all kinds of oppression, these are the immortal
standards that all veterans hold dear and
protect and defend.
I offer my
profound gratitude to all veterans and
their long serving families, who have come before me to offer their lives,
their sacrifice and their contribution to making this country safe. Because of
all of these amazing veterans, I am able to share my humble thoughts with all
of you today.
Sincerely,
Tina D.
Erwin, Commander, US Navy Retired
No comments:
Post a Comment