It’s late December when a variety of holiday traditions spanning different faiths and ethnic backgrounds converge for a few days in celebrations featuring food, gifts, and family together.
For more than a few families, this is also the time of year to think about, worry about and miss loved ones who are far away or who are on their way to faraway places, in many cases, to serve this country and protect it.
Military families ask for no special privileges or status in return for the voluntary sacrifice on behalf of their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters or brothers to serve in the armed services and spend time in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Plenty of organizations like Military Friends Foundation Project highlight military family sacrifices and assist families. Operation Military Smiles is affiliated with the Project and it provided a “pop-up” toy shop Wednesday evening in Lynn City Hall for veterans, service members and their dependents.
The three-hour shopping opportunity represented one of the many ways service groups try to make life easier for families. Efforts to help service members and their families are appreciated and there is no shortage of ways for people with an interest in volunteering to help military families.
Families with loved ones serving this country benefit from support networks. But every American should be part of the safety net suspended underneath military families. Every American benefits from the sacrifice and service that defines someone serving the armed forces.
Plenty of well-meaning people might be inclined to distance themselves from a neighbor or co- worker with a loved one in the military. It’s easy, almost instinctive, to say, “Well, I don’t want to intrude on someone’s family life,” or say, “If I talk about their son or daughter serving abroad, I’m just going to make them feel bad during a time of year when we’re all supposed to feel happy.”
Those well-intentioned excuses are overshadowed by the importance of making military families feel recognized and appreciated for the burden they bear on behalf of other Americans. Their loved ones volunteered to serve their country, but all Americans can play a role, even with a small gesture, in easing the anxiety and sadness that lingers when someone serving in the military deploys and says goodbye to family members.
Americans have always stood up and served their country and for every citizen wearing a uniform, there are family members thinking about them and praying for them day and night. It’s not a lot to ask every American to remember men and women serving beneath the flag and a kind word or generous gesture offered to a military family member is a great gift to give this holiday season.
