|
Let’s give our heroes a Veterans Day salute
By Joe Vickery
Contributor
Published November 4, 2009
Wednesday next week is Veterans Day, the one day a year this country comes together to acknowledge and thank those who have served and are serving in our armed forces, the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Air Force, reserve forces and the National Guard.
To most, the word “veteran” means old soldier; one who has served his country but has since moved on and is no longer actively serving.
Today, I call your attention to veterans who have been there and done that but have chosen to continue their service to our country as members of one or more of our veteran organizations. There are several honorable veteran organizations, such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Marine Corps League.
Our veteran organizations work diligently in addressing veterans’ issues at the local, state and federal level and seek to strengthen our military forces. Many of the local chapters perform services to the veterans in their respective areas.
Our veterans organizations also play another important role; they serve our nation by keeping a close eye on our legislators. They remain ever vigilant in measuring the mood and policy of our national leadership against the lessons of history.
If we can glean anything from history, we should understand that liberty begins with the recognition that there are forces and interests at work that strive to rob mankind of liberty.
History is replete with examples of brave men and women who have come to realize that simply living is not sufficient to carry the day — that life is more than breath or food or shelter. Liberty is the gift, purchased by the few and given to the many, that the people of a nation of freeborn may build their lives and raise their families.
The responsibility to endure and defend this precious gift is passed down from generation to generation, and it’s the burden of vigilance and the duty of our veterans to point the way.
It’s proper to debate the great issues of the day and to contest and worry about when and where we should enter into harm’s way. I’m always dismayed at how quickly we seem to forget the price of freedom and that we didn’t win our own freedom single-handedly.
I’m troubled with the possibility that so many generations have passed and so many are unable to conjure some distant memory of the misery, which is tyranny. Without our veterans organizations, who will guide the way for the sons of liberty and remind them of the price paid that freedom rings today? Can there be a greater threat to liberty than apathy or ignorance?
This is the first of two articles by Joe Vickery, who is chaplain of the Marine Corps League and lives in Texas City. The second will be published Nov. 11.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Letter |
7
Comments
|
|
|
