Friday, November 11, 2011

A Significant Day: Veterans' Day 2011

What's significant about today? (Aside from the fact that it is comprised of all one digit.  See? 11/11/11, Cool, huh?)

1) Today is Veteran's Day.  And I must make a statement about this Veteran's Day 2011.  What is the deal with all the 9-11 stuff making its way into Veteran's Day?  As brave as those firemen and policemen were; as much as they sacrificed: THEY WERE NOT VETERANS.  They did not have to be brave day after day; year after year....They did not go through boot camp; They were not away from their families for years on foreign soil.  I know this will raise the ire of some of those who suffered through 9/11 and maybe that of the families who lost loved ones that horrible day...But those people HAVE their day for remembrance: September 11th of every year belongs to them.  (And I'm among the most of the teary eyed on Sept 11th...I sincerely understand your grief, coming from a community that lost many to that horrific day.)

But really: let Nov. 11th belong to those gentlemen from the World Wars, who still, many decades later must bear the lonely scars of war; to the Veterans of the Korean and Vietnam War who face their unique challenges - again, decades later....And to those who served and to those currently serving in Desert Storm and the Gulf War.  These men are true heros...Having faced unspeakable hardship and danger; often coming home to public disapproval and rebuke when they should have been honored for stepping up to the plate and going to the defense of this country.  They struggle with disabilities, both mental and physical due to the stresses put on their minds and bodies while serving---for year after lonely year.

These men and women are heroes.  And they deserve their own day to be honored as such.


2) Today is also my 22nd Wedding Anniversary.  I joked when we chose Veterans Day on which to be married, that soon I was about to become a veteran....(How little we know of the truth we speak in jest!)  The fact is, despite the fact that I'd lived almost three decades of hard life prior to marriage; I was very much a neophyte to relationship...having come out of almost a decade and a half of mental illness and  relational isolation.  And I would say that for the first 20ish years of marriage I did a pretty good job of managing that and other difficulties and in being a good wife.  My marriage-those of you who know my husband and me can attest to this- has borne some real and unique challenges....due to the disabilities of both of us and to character makeups--and especially due to the fact that my husband and I come from differing faith traditions and also have diverging beliefs even now; and also due to my deteriorating health.

We managed, despite financial challenges,and differing philosophies on child rearing; to raise a daughter, now 19--who is a person for whom I'm daily growing in admiration and respect. (She has not had an easy life either--maybe we should let her celebrate our special "Veteran's Day" as well!)  And yes, it has been at times, times of war and skirmishes...but overall, the good news is that we are still married; still a family.

So yes; we each have battle scars.  But we are  still together and still committed to our marriage after 22 years...something precious few people can attest to.

So from a Veteran of the battle that is and has been my life - to the Veterans of this country's wars prior and present; Have a Blessed Veterans' Day---as you remember your struggles and wounds and the wounds  and losses of your comrades; may you also remember the joys as well...and be proud of all you have endured for a cause higher than yourself.
Blessings to you!



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I served in the navy during WWll and was assosiated with the military durin Korea, Vietnam, and the Yom Kippur war. When I had to see men dead and dieing, all I could think of was "they are so young--they are so young" LORD GOD !!

Cynthia Lott Vogel said...

That is an experience so foreign to MY experience...that I can only thank God for men like you who have MADE it a foreign experience for those of us in this blessed country
Thank you for your service on our behalf.