Good ol’ trusty Google defines “Veterans Day” as:
“Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.'" As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.
In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress -- at the urging of the veterans service organizations -- amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.”
And it also defines a veteran as:
“A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field. This page refers to military veterans, i.e., a person who has served or is serving in the armed forces. Those veterans that have had direct exposure to acts of military conflict may also be referred to as war veterans.”
So what does that mean to you, in your busy, racing everyday life? What does November 11th mean?
Is it just another day, with a couple words listed at the bottom of the box marking todays date on your desk calendar you bought from an office supply store?
Is it just a day that the schools have to rush around to cook a breakfast and rush kids from one place to another, frantically trying to get them to be quiet, listen, and learn something that most don’t understand during an assembly?
Is it a day that you thought absolutely nothing about until you logged onto Facebook and saw all of your friends posting and sharing stories of veterans? Therefore, to make yourself look like you knew all along what today was and that in your deepest of hearts, you share a post and type “Amen” or “Thank you Vets”, or nothing at all. All so that others wouldn’t think that you didn’t care about Veterans Day that you were in tune with what is going on and the significance that today really holds. When really, after you hit that “Share” button, you disregard everything about this day and go on with your normal day to day routine. I mean, it is Friday and you have a lot to get done before the weekend hits. Who has time for anything else added to their plate?
Or is it a day that your heart hurts? A day where many memories that you’ve experienced or been told about rush into your mind and your heart breaks? A Day where you can’t help but feel the urge to scoop every service man and woman up into a hug and tell them you love them and it will be okay. No? Maybe it’s just me. Maybe me being an “over emotional fixer” causes me to feel that way.
I know for some, today you remember what it felt like when your loved one was first deployed or in many cases, each time they are deployed. Whether was WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or all the many other wars our men and women have selflessly fought in, not know if in the midst of that hug, you would ever get a moment like that again. Because once they got in that plane, ship, car, it was war. A war of uncertainty. In the midst of that last embrace, your heart broke a piece of itself off and attached to your solider, forever knowing that your heart would be missing that piece until your solider returned home and back into your arms. Some, never get them back in their arms. Some wait for that return, only to have the return be in mourning instead of celebration. Some hearts never retrieve those pieces back.
And some of those same people as mentioned above, I guarantee, waited for letters, phone calls, texts, Skype messages, emails, any form of communication to let you know they were “Okay”. While on the other side of the world, soldiers as well waited for letters, packages, feeling of prayers, some sort of piece from home while they are fighting in what seems like a level of hell.
One Vietnam Veteran very close to my heart, in one of our many conversations explained what fighting in the war was like to him, what he could sum his experience up in one sentence. And that sentence gave me chills and forever made my heart break even more for the American Solider.
It was a late morning and he came into my office (he was a security guard at the hospital I worked at, and as he made his rounds he would always stop in and tell me a joke or sit for a break and we’d talk about whatever. We connected quickly, he reminded me of my grandpas). But this particular day and conversation was different. He took a seat and we chatted, our conversation changed to his time serving in Vietnam and all that he experienced. As I listened to him, I noticed his scars, all over his forehead, stemming from on indention right near his hair line on the left side of his scalp. He informed me that he had been hit pretty hard by bullets and shrapnel. He went into detail about what had happened before he was hit and during. It was things I had never heard before. I had never been brave enough to ask, or felt comfortable enough to ask. Gratefully he explained a lot without me having to ask and I appreciate that more than he will ever know.
But after telling me about his wounds and scars, I asked “What was it like?”
He looked down, put his hands together and looked back up at me and said.
“It’s like going from Mom’s sweet apple pie to the worst level of hell you can imagine.”
Heart shattered.
He continued, “And then you go back to Mom’s apple pie and everything is supposed to be okay, you are supposed to resume normal life like you have never left. That is what’s hard.”
I had no response, I couldn’t think of words that would express anything that I felt or thought, or words to help, because there are none. I have never lived that, never experienced the level of hell that he spoke about. The way your life changes suddenly and quickly and then returns to it prior state with the only thing different is yourself. Different in such a way that who you were is no longer there and there is no way of regaining that person back.
Veterans Day is more than me and you. It is more than share post on Facebook. It is more than a 2 second thought. It is more than a definition off of google. It is more than we realize.
Veterans Day and what it stands for is about something bigger, something greater, and something that most of us cannot even begin to understand.
We shouldn’t set aside just one day out of the year to thank a Veteran, hold a special school event(which don’t get me wrong, those are great and should happen everywhere), only share a post once a year, we should practice that thankfulness and gratitude every day, in every way we can to our Vets.
Our Veterans should not be homeless. Our Veterans should not be struggling to make ends meet. Our Veterans should not feel like they are alone with no hope.
Our Veterans shouldn’t be forgotten.
This Veterans Day, imagine standing in front of you is a man or woman, and you see the absolute hell they lived through, fought through, and CHOSE to do over and over again, for you, your family, so that your way of life wouldn’t be damaged, you see all that in the worn, hurt, strong, courageous eyes looking into yours.
What would you say to them?
Hopefully, your heart would break, you’d be brought to tears, and you would have the urge to hug them or at least shake their hand and say thank when you know in your mind, “Thank you” could never be enough.
Take today, and let the stories that our veterans carry, change you, break your heart, and stand beside them to help them. Young or old, retired or active, we as a nation must stand by our vets and do whatever we can to help them.
And one of the simplest yet most powerful thing we all can do for our veterans and their families, is to pray.
Pray for them, all the time, in every way, every season.
PRAY.
“Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you. Jesus Christ and the American Solider. One died for your soul, the other died for your freedom.”
John 15:13
