Normally the entry for Veteran’s Day is a pretty easy one for me to write. After all, there’s the old writer’s mantra of “write what you know” and having spent sixteen and a half years in the company (if not command) of the usual inspiration for this post, I’d like to think that I know a thing or two on this subject.
This year’s post has most certainly has put up an awfully impressive fight to keep the words off the page!
I knew what I wanted to say pretty much from the off but the real challenge was how to say it in such a way to not detract from the solemnity and honour due our veterans and active duty members of our armed forces but also point out something that is often forgotten in the midst of the celebrations and well-wishes.
So of course my best wishes and most profound gratitude goes to those who have volunteered to put on the uniform in the service and defence of our country and our Constitution and the way of life it is intended to guarantee to us all.
Many who have never been a part of the military family will never know just what that enlistment entails or the challenges of the rigourous order and discipline of military life. The long separations from family and friends when on a deployment to some far away place and the joy when they come home to those who they cherish most.
Or the tears and sorrow that go along with the pride and love for those who don’t.
That’s the beauty of the all-volunteer military force that we often have the choice whether to enlist or not. That is the privilege afforded us by those who do accept the challenge and the calling of their country and freely choose to swear that oath to defend this country and the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and accept the sacrifices that often entails.
Thanking those who served or still serve on active duty is the easy part of Veteran’s Day but it is a noble and right one.
But for those of us who may not ever wear the uniform of our country’s military services, we who claim the rank of citizen have just as sacred an obligation as those who choose to do so to be willing to fight and if necessary also give the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of the Constitution and all that it stands for.
The nature of our fight isn’t necessarily one using weapons or close-quarters combat.
Truth be told, that’d actually be far easier than the social and political conflict that seems to be surrounding us on all sides these days where many of the rights afforded us by the Constitution seem to be under assault on several fronts.
Point me at the enemy of my country and let me do what needs to be done and it’s tough cookies for whoever is on the wrong side of that fight!
Our job as citizens is to be just as vigilant and diligent about defending our Constitution at home as our veterans and service members are no matter where they may be stationed.
That means we need to invest the time and energy to ensure that we are as informed with actual provable facts about what’s going on in the squalid and often sordid world of politics and be willing to do our part to hold accountable those who also swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution but are failing to honour their oath before their fellow citizens to enrich themselves with wealth or political power.
We have a weapon at our disposal that they cannot defend themselves against unless we allow them to take it away from us…the power of the vote and the ballot box as well as those most sacred of rights that were so valued by the Founding Fathers that they were enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution…
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment I — United States Constitution
That is how we can thank our veterans not just on Veteran’s Day but on every day.
Everyone in the military will tell you that one of the best feelings you can have in a combat zone is knowing there is someone who has your back.
An informed civilian citizenry that is not only willing to defend our Constitution as they do but willing to sacrifice whatever is required which may well include one’s freedom or life to see that the Constitution and our country endures is a society that’s actually worth defending.
This is how we’ll have our veteran’s six.
That is how this country will prevail for another 250 years.
This is our mission should we choose to accept it! You in? 🙂