Veterans Day

The leaves on the tree outside my window are almost gone, and it is much easier to see the heavy equipment working at the Old Indian Post Office across the way.

I'm reminded especially during the fall season that nothing stays the same..

Change is a part of life.

Sunshine burning bright against a clear blue sky today...

And then torrents of rain and blustery winds the next.

America, she's changing, too.

Things aren't like they used to be...

There are good changes, and there are bad changes, and I won't get political and identify which is which. There's a time and place for everything...

Last Tuesday I stood and voted and thought of the beaches of Normandy...

Ok, that may have been dramatic, but there is something about that footage that just sticks in my head.

I think of that generation, who bravely trudged through ocean waves as they fought against evil...

But did they really know what they were fighting against?

Hindsight is 20/20... and anyone who has watched video clips and seen pictures of those concentration camps can only classify it as evil...

But to that 17 year old boy storming that beach... was he really thinking of that?

I'd like to think so... but I can't help but think not.

What I do suppose is that he was thinking of America.

Whether draft or volunteer, these men and women span centuries.  They are alike in ways that we can never imagine. They have seen sights that no young person, no old person, should have to endure, and they continue to have experiences that no one should have to deal with.

They were separated from loved ones and sent to god-forsaken conditions.

They went hungry and endured coldness and sweltering heat.

These men and women should be our everyday heroes...

And those left behind. Military families who learn to adapt to new places and new faces and new friends. Spouses who are essentially single-parents for four to six months at a time. I can't imagine the fear and anxiety... or the pride. As the wife of a Reservist, I know a small piece of it... but Wallace came home.  While three months seemed like a lifetime, I was in contact for most of that time.  I had an end-date in sight. 

Sometimes, they just don't know...

And even as America is changing, even as the military may change...

The truth doesn't change.

They fought for freedom... lay down their life for freedom.

Freedom isn't free.

As I sat in my classroom this morning, I could hear the drum and cadences from the Veteran's Day parade.  I imagine those veterans in my community that I know.  I can see Papaw Jr. with his smile on his face.

Respect is not given... it is earned, and they have all paid the price.

Thank you, all you from WWII to Korea, from Vietnam to Desert Storm.

Thank you to those who are serving in places that I am not even aware right now.

Prayers for you and your families.... and may we not just remember today.  May Veteran's Day be honored every day...

Because you deserve it.

God bless you... and God bless America.