Veterans Day
Today is November 11, which makes today Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in Canada. Both holidays celebrate the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I at 11:00AM on 11 November 1918.
The original observation of Armistice Day in the US was to honor the veterans who died during that war. In 1954, the observance in the US was renamed Veterans Day, and the day set aside to honor the veterans of all wars. this was originally done to acknowledge the great contribution to our country at that time by the veterans of the recently ended World War II. Today it serves to honor the contribution of the military in all of our wars, from World War I up to the current hostilities in Iraq and elsewhere.
The level of service provided by those who have volunteered for military service is truly great. We have many stories of our young men and women who have given their lives for a national cause. It is our privilege to support the sacrifices that they have made.
We honor the sacrifice of these people through ceremonies every year. We hold parades, we visit cemeteries, and we hold events to salute them. These are all perfectly proper. However, I would like to propose one additional way to honor these men and women.
We often say that the reason we study history is that it allows us to reflect on what our forebears did in particular situations, allowing us to not have to make the same mistake again. Some military campaigns have clearly been done in the name of national or world defense. Other campaigns have been well fought, but have been started or continued for nebulous reasons. In respect to the heroic actions of the veterans themselves, it does not matter when they served. Their achievements are equally valiant — no matter what the circumstances. They came forward when called. They did so bravely. Many were injured or killed in that process. For this, we will honor their actions without question.
If we are to learn anything from history, it is that we will always have war, and we will always have those willing to come forward without question to protect us. It seems that it would be the greatest honor in return to them if we would try to avoid repeating history. Sometimes it is very easy for governments to start a conflict, knowing that these brave souls will step forward.
I suggest that if we ever again decide that it is necessary to go to war, that we step back and ensure that all of the other options that are available are taken and that the war is the final choice. If we decided to spend a larger amount of time, money, and effort on diplomacy; we could avoid the need for more of our sons and daughters to exhibit their bravery in quite so harsh an environment. This seems like the least we could do for our veterans, past and present.
We are currently fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is quite a bit of controversy related to how many of our military have been killed or injured in the current conflict, and while the figure is undeniably “quite a lot”, that controversy is not the point of this essay. My real points are twofold.
The first is that we currently still have many of our sons and daughters coming back from the current war dead and seriously injured every day. The causalities are now so commonplace that our news media has more or less stopped reporting this everyday occurrence. It seems odd that we will honor the heroes from our past conflicts each year, but without so much as acknowledging the ones who are giving their lives to the cause today.
The second point is that, despite having all of history to look back upon, our leaders are not doing more to prevent the need for war in the first place. We spend amazing amounts of time, effort, and money fighting wars. If we spent some of those resources on diplomacy in an effort to come to agreements with our enemies, we could certainly save at least some of the bloodshed. Yes, diplomacy will not solve every problem. It likely could not have prevented either of our World Wars. But maintaining respectful relationships with both our friends and our enemies may be able to pay great dividends in the long run. The advantages will be a more comfortable world to live in, and a world where fewer of our sons and daughters will need to be mourned on Veterans Day.
There is no reason not to honor all of our military members for their contributions throughout history. They have all bravely answered the call of duty. It would seem an appropriate honor to them if we only called upon them to perform that duty when absolutely necessary.
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