Sunday is Veteran's Day, a day to thank and salute those family, friends and even strangers who have served - or are serving - a cause much greater than themselves. The sad thing is that our holidays now seem to rush from one right into the other. Before the Halloween decorations were down it seemed that Christmas music was already on the radio, not to mention holiday decorations appearing in the department stores. Is this a product of an overly-materialistic society, or are we just moving too fast as a nation and, in the process, forgetting to properly recognize a holiday that was paid for in blood from the beaches of Anzio to the sands of Ramadi. Are our veterans getting the short end of the stick? What do you think - and what are you doing for Veteran's Day?
Salute to the vets
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Thank you to all who serve and have served.
We Veterans welcome the honor and respect but it all seems to happen between November 5th and 12th. Physically we can't get to all events, flag raisings, etc. We aren't asking for special perks. What we are asking for is to be recognized throughout the year by a simple thank you or just come up and ask , "How are you and your family doing"? 40 years later I just found out that I have a blood disorder related to Agent Orange. That, "How are you doing?" means a lot to both my family and me.
Isn't it a shame that this Veterans Day blog has only two comments on it, while people can't talk enough about Dist. 203, 204, Furstenau etc.? Are we so wrapped up in our own little Naperville world that we've got nothing to say about our brave vets? It's sad.
Speaking for just myself, I believe the best tribute one could pay a veteran would be to participate in our democracy by exercising your franchise and vote. It’s nice to hear people say to Veterans, “Thanks for your service”, but a better demonstration of their appreciation would be to invest their effort and time into studying the candidates, understanding the issues at hand, and then voting.
It saddens me to watch our politicians allow for the slow erosion of our rights and even worse, to see little or no citizen action to alter this course. I see our now “professional” politicians routinely pandering to every possible voter by offering government handouts to virtually “buy” their way to office. Today instead of examining what is best for the country the voter also appears to be asking, what is in it for me? I was truly astounded when the citizens rallied against the politically charged amnesty bill. It can be done.
A ten to fifteen percent voter turnout is fairly typical for a non-presidential election – pathetic isn’t it? Oh yah, we may see turnout approach fifty percent for a presidential election – which is still pathetic. We all have busy lives I know, but how busy must we be to assume that others can make a better decision about who runs our schools, or who controls the direction of the Park District, or who decides what rights we will maintain or lose, or who will be entrusted to lead our country?
I get dispirited when I hear people say, “But what can I do”? I’m tired of people assuming that if they just throw money at a problem everything will be alright and that they can get back to their more “important life”. People that merely complain about a perceived problem without ever bothering to make any effort to learn about it or offer solution offend me. Without the knowledgeable and interested voter we can no longer have a great country
I proudly fly my lighted United States flag every day. I study the issues and VOTE every time that I am permitted. I dearly love this Country as I’m sure every veteran does.
How about you? Are you an active participant or are you merely an apathetic observer? Do you love this country?
Amen to that Jim. Most the reason we are where we are is due to apathy. When people don't vote and don't regularly communicate with their elected officials, democracy shrivels up and dies. When we see things like the two DuPage county residents expressing their belief that Bush and Cheney should be impeached because of their lies, getting arrested because of a fascist sheriff's deputy who told them they were going to pay for it and filed false charges against them and Joe Burkett's lack of tolerance of anyone's rights...when we see things like "free Speech Zones", as a veteran I am sickened....mostly because we allowed it to happen. To think that in a country where freedom of religion is so cherished that a religious group had to file 2 lawsuits against the Veteran's Administration to "allow" them to have their religious symbol on thier gravestone is just sickening. People of that faith were good enough to serve and die for their country, but thier country would not honor their beliefs like they do everyone else's flies in the face of everything this country stands for.
When we as citizens do not stand up and jealously guard and protect out rights, we lose them. It's time to take back our country folks and restore freedom and democracy.
Hailisa,
Eric Roberts
Veteran US Army
4th Battallion, 6th Infantry (Mech)
Medical Platoon
Fort Polk, LA 1986-1989
Operation Nimrod Dancer/Just Cause
Panama Canal Zone 1989