How do you define freedom? Is it the ability to shop or drive where you want? Is it the right to display a bumper sticker on your car or fly the flag of your choice at your home?
Freedom — the oft-revered, sometimes hotly-debated, hallmark of our democracy — is at the heart of the salutes and thanks we offer veterans today.
With the decision to pull American military personnel out of Afghanistan, the United States is not involved in a foreign war for the first time in 20 years. But all of us find ourselves standing shoulder to shoulder today with veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq, and all other men and women who served this country, in their struggle to heal from physical injuries suffered in combat and mental-health trauma related to their service.
Veterans Day can be a springboard for all of us individually, and in affiliation with organizations and groups we are involved in, to find ways to help veterans. There are veterans who need rides to doctor’s appointments. There are veterans seeking jobs and housing.
There are veterans who need tutoring, counseling, mentoring, and other guidance to help them secure jobs. There are students who need to be educated about the role veterans have played in preserving this nation and the ideals for which it stands.
America has historically had enemies from without and within. From generation to generation, men and women born in this country and who came here as immigrants have made the decision to defend this country.
It’s not just the job of elected officials or local, state, and federal veterans’-services workers to understand the struggles veterans face and the resources they need to overcome those struggles.
We all bear responsibility for understanding those needs and marshaling those resources because we all owe a debt of gratitude to veterans who kept us safe during their tours of duty and to military personnel who serve today.
Veterans Day is commemorated on Nov. 11 because this is the day in 1918 when the armistice ending World War I was signed. Americans fought and died in “the war to end all wars” just as they fought and died in Iraq, Afghanistan, Desert Storm, the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, World War II, the Spanish-American War, Civil War, War of 1812 and the Revolutionary War (we undoubtedly missed a few).
Those wars have ended, but the responsibility to serve veterans falls on all Americans from this day forward.
Thank you, veterans, for your service.
