Well, by now it's afternoon, almost evening, and getting cloudier and grayer and a front is supposed to blow through and lower the temperature and raise our chance of rain or maybe a thunderstorm. At the moment, it's quiet and still and shadowy. The birds probably know there's a change coming and have all gone to shelter or to bed early, not one of them is out there singing. Even the cat is somewhere else.
This morning, while I was still half asleep, my husband put out the flags for Veteran's Day: the American flag on top followed by the Navy flag for his service, the Army flag for the boy's service, and the Marine Corps flag for Brian's service, and that's a lot of service and a lot of flags. I love for him to put them out because they remind me that this is a country where there are people willing to serve in all kinds of capacities, not just in the military, but police officers, fire fighters, teachers, nurses, all kinds of workers for the government we all need, from municipal right on through to the top. All kinds of people volunteer as well, to do all kinds of unpaid work that help us in times of trouble, Salvation Army, Red Cross, local shelters, and food banks.
Today is about Veterans about those who serve to protect us, and, in foreign countries, not only try to understand and protect people there, but do work to help that country survive war, to help those people survive the fight and have something left to live their daily lives. Stories about soldiers who give kid's soccer balls, or who help build schools, or hospitals, who try to bring different factions together to talk about their differences and about solutions. Soldiers may not always be perfect, they are, after all, human, but nearly all of them try to do their best, to protect those weaker and serve their country with honor. This is the day we honor them, and think about where they are serving, and what they are doing, and when they will be home, as their families surely do.
I have looked and looked for a poem today and nothing is fits. Some glorify war, some protest against it, some bury the soldiers, some praise them, but all seem not to say what I am looking for. No one wants war, not even soldiers, not even the veterans of those wars, they go because they serve, because they wish to serve their country and its citizens, to keep their families and their cities, their homes and their way of life safe. They go for ten thousand different personal reasons, they leave behind families and friends to go someplace they don't understand, to do work they consider important and necessary. Sometimes they die for that work, for all the families, that the life they leave may be saved for others.
Today we remember their sacrifice, those who return, those who didn't, those who come home in need of help we might give, and those who are welcomed back into their lives by loved ones. Today we remember, and try not to forget the rest of the year when those same veterans need help, or a pat on the back, or a welcome home.
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