The Nation Which Forgets Its Defenders

I wrote what follows a dozen years ago. I think it bears repeating.

Today began as Armistice Day, marking the end of "The War to End All Wars" also known as World War One, but sadly, failing to achieve its goal, hence the numerical suffix. For most of the thirty-five nations who fought in it, it lasted the better part of five years, from 1914 to 1918; we in the United States didn't become a combatant until 1917 but made up in ferocity of engagement what we lacked in the length of deployment. 

The world one hundred or so years ago was very different than the one in which we live and is so unlike today that it's as if it were another universe. If we survive as a country and culture for another one hundred years, what will now look like to those here then, I wonder.

There are many observances around the country today. Like ours in Norwich, Connecticut,  the ceremonies are often simple with little pomp and circumstance as is probably most befitting to celebrate a well-shared national experience. In 2020, the last year I could find verifiable statistics, there were about eighteen million veterans among us. 

We honor all those who serve in our nation's armed forces, living and deceased. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the size of our veteran population, the imperative and importance of taking care of all those who are wounded in body and/or in spirit, grows exponentially. 

Veterans Day remembers and recognizes all the characteristics embodied by those who serve as well as those who wait for them which allows us to remain the freest nation in the history of the world.

I'm old now but I can remember the boy I was who listened to a Navy veteran of the War in the Pacific during World War Two, just elected President of the United States, urging us to "...pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."

The elections earlier this week both capped and sparked a lot of discussion and more, that fixated on attempting to determine what's wrong with our nation and who is responsible. Today is a day to remember all that is right with us, and with one another.
-bill kenny