Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veteran's Day

For those of us here in America, we're remembering our Veterans today. To all of you who have served, we thank you. Our freedom comes as a gift from God, who delivered it by your efforts.

A bit of history is worth remembering here. We celebrate Veteran's Day on November 11 because that's the day World War One ended. Of course, when it ended, it was the end of the 'Great War' since everyone thought humanity wouldn't be so foolish again. It was hoped that we would see peace forever. Then the world faced economic turmoil, some countries turned to anger and hatred to strengthen themselves, and other countries went along with it. This was called appeasement, and was supposed to avert war. Other countries chose isolation, so that they wouldn't have to fight no matter what anyone else did.

Isolation and appeasement failed, because evil is never satisfied. Since the 'War to End All Wars' ended on November 11, 1918, we have seen millions more die to fight evil, and protect our lives and freedom in America, and in many other countries. Let us never forget that. Let us respect our veterans, and the price they and their families pay so that we can lay down in peace at night. Unfortunately, our world still contains evil and people willing to do evil. Let us have the will to stand up to it before it becomes full-grown, before it requires the lives of our fellow man to fight it down. To let evil grow does not show respect for the military, but throws away their lives by letting evil get stronger. Who knows the lives saved had Hitler been driven from power in 1936? Had Stalin not held the Soviet Union? Had Ho Chi Minh failed, or Mao fallen to Chiang Kai-Shek? What if slavery had been eliminated in the Constitution? How many lives saved?

Standing up to the small evils of this world shows our veterans that we respect their sacrifices, and that we value their lives, that we would rather the world not see another World War Two, another Vietnam, another Iraq, or another Cold War.

The American serviceman has never failed our country, from the Revolution until now. They have always stood and fought, have always triumphed in the fight they were sent to. The attempts to hang failure on the men and women of the Armed Forces for Vietnam or the present situation in Iraq is to ignore the fact that politicians made the decisions that led to the situation. The bravery and sacrifice of those Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and Seamen is not diminished by political stupidity, not diminished because people that stayed home, safe in their beds, treated those men and women with contempt upon their return, that politicians and greedy contractors have robbed the VA from effectively serving them, these are things that we must fight against.

We live in one of the greatest countries in this world, no matter what detractors we have. The greatest critics of our nation seem to be countries that our veterans have died to liberate, people that forget that their freedom to agitate is guaranteed by the soldiers they mock, and by those in the world whose evil we must stand against. Our nation is blessed that our soldiers' weapons point out to defend, and not in to threaten. That our border security issues have to do with who comes in, not those who wish to leave. That our military swears an oath to uphold our Constitution, not any one person.

We are truly blessed. To our military families, thank you. To our military, active and former, thank you.

To Dad: thank you. My greatest regret is not being able to follow in your footsteps.

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