A day to reflect on the sacrifices of others

Today is Veterans Day.

For schoolchildren, it’s a day off. It’s a day without mail or… Today is Veterans Day.

For schoolchildren, it’s a day off. It’s a day without mail or trash pickup, and a day without liquor, unless you’ve stocked up or decide to hit a bar. It’s one more day of sales at the mall, more consumerist salvos lobbed right at the pocketbooks of America.

It shouldn’t be just one more useless date on the calendar. It’s more important than Arbor Day or Groundhog Day or Secretaries Day. It’s not just another creation of Hallmark.

Divorce yourself from your personal politics today. Set aside your view of the current conflict in Iraq. Forget where you stood on Vietnam.

Today is about pausing to remember human beings who put their lives on the line for us. Today is about recognizing men and women who answered their country’s call.

Veterans Day is less about politics or patriotism and more about honoring sacrifices made by our fellow citizens and acknowledging their service on our behalf. The holiday is not even fully about America. Our allies throughout history must not be forgotten, either.

Our generation has a reputation for apathy in terms of civic duty and respect. It’s been easy for so long to write off veterans as crusty old soldiers without relevance to our daily lives. However, now veterans make up a chunk of our own demographic. Young people have served and died for this country. Young people are overseas now, fighting. We shouldn’t let the efforts of our peers go unnoticed.

It’s a rarity to come across someone who doesn’t have at least one family member who has served. Veterans make up our families and our communities. We encounter veterans every day, and they rarely get recognition.

There is a parade Downtown at 10:30 a.m. If you can’t make it, find some other way to acknowledge veterans. Many institutions observe a moment of silence at 11:11 a.m. Flying a flag is always appropriate, as is wearing a flag pin or yellow ribbon. Give Grandpa a call, if he served and you spent a lot of your childhood rolling your eyes at his long war stories. Lend a hand somewhere – anywhere – and do it in the name of veterans. Most of us will never be veterans, but we will always be Americans.

Serving in the military is a profound experience. Its effects resonate for the rest of a soldier’s life. They never forget; why should we?