Veteran's Day

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

~George Orwell

And therein lies the truth of the matter, the ugly, dark truth. It takes violence to keep us safe. It takes a man, or a woman, willing to stand up, to fight back in sometimes lethal ways, to protect the freedoms, the way of life, we all have.

I do not know a lot of people who have laced up a pair of combat boots and been willing to meet the violence of tyranny, oppression, to meet the Hitlers, Stalins, and Husseins of the world head on. I did not know how heavy it stains the life of a soldier, and that of his family. For me, for years, Veteran's Day has been the day to call my grandfather, to listen to the stories of Europe and Germany, and maybe get a day off from school.

But this year… this year I have a better understanding of what it means to be a Veteran. Of the sacrifice they make, to give up their homes, their families, to leave everything known and loved behind, for foreign places.

And after all that is done, they return home to a country that does not understand, does not try to understand, what they have given up, have no appreciation of what needs to be done to keep those freedoms. We lost the meaning of Memorial Day, it is now the start for summer, I wonder if any of us ever truly had the meaning of Veterans Day, what it means to support the living warriors.

As I said before.. while everyone else around me may forget what freedom costs, and while everyone around me may never understand what it means to be a soldier. I will not.

I am still keeping the faith.

~Jennifer