A Liberal's Dilemma
Every Veteran’s Day, my family and I thank the men and women in our lives who’ve served this country. We call or visit, expressing gratitude for what they’ve given all of us.Our first Veteran’s Day in The Springs, we now have another option to add to our annual tradition.
This Saturday, beginning at 10am, is our new community’s annual Veteran’s Day Parade. The 90-minute funfest will feature local military heroes, Air Force Academy cadets, Junior ROTC units, high school marching bands and the Air Force Academy band as well as balloons and floats.
I’m uncomfortable attending such an event. There’s a difference between gratitude for the service and sacrifice of our soldiers, and simply celebrating the military.
Veteran’s Day isn’t about glorifying war, wrapping it up in a pretty parade and calling it patriotism.
The best way to honor our soldiers is to limit the danger they face. Speeches and parties are fine, but first we must elect officials who respect soldiers through sound foreign policy and adequate funding for supplies.
A parade does very little good when veterans are suffering from wounds, both physical and psychological, and don’t have access to quality health care.
Marching high school students eager to put on a uniform is yet another issue. I feel rather foolish holding a balloon and cheering for a group of kids who are recruited to serve without full disclosure. As a teacher, I see too many students who think war is a game and an easy way to pay for college. They don’t understand the ramifications of military service and that sometimes the ultimate payment isn’t so easy after all.
Volunteering to feed homeless vets, visiting the elderly at a VA hospital or advocating for better veteran’s benefits – there are many ways to commemorate Veteran’s Day. A parade just drowns out the real issues with a lot of noise.
posted by kate @ 9:25 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Yea, you are dead on about this.
All those parades should begin or end at a VA Hospital so that people can see the effects of war.
I think people like to avoid VA Hospitals like the plague.
I am not sure you truly understand what a military does. These men and women volunteer to put themselves in harms way if their government requires they do so. I think it would be great to have this parade start and stop at a VA. Then those soldiers who could not attend an outpouring of love,support and gratitude could be included.
I am sure sitting in your home thinking about the poor soldiers means much more to them then people taking a minute out of their schedules to honor and truly support them.
You know, just thinking, I was right there with you until your last sentence. "Truly support?" What a silly, stupid thing to say.
Throwing confetti at a 20-year-old who lost both his legs to an IED and now has a colostomy bag for the rest of his life is true support?
Throwing confetti at a mother who's lost both her sons in Iraq is true support?
Throwing confetti at a man who's returned home from Iraq with a mystery illness and can't get into see a VA doctor for weeks or months is true support?
Taking a day out of one's life and political ideals and symbolistic view certainly isn't too much to ask for the sacrifices these men and women make. However, to imply that going to a damn parade makes your support somehow "truer" than someone who, the 364 other days of the damn year, agitates to bring troops home or advocates better oversight on VA hospitals like Walter Reed or the current Marion VA Medical Center is just vile.
Just thinking - clearly you don't do a lot of it.
My point - the best way to support our veterans *isn't* sitting at home or sitting on a parade route. Maybe, just maybe, it might be better to visit sick veterans at a hospital or play cards with them in a homeless shelter.
I'm not against the idea of a parade in times of peace. But while we're in not one, not two, but several armed conflicts - maybe a parade isn't in good form right now.
It's really not that hard to *just think* about.
I'm with you on this one Kate. There are a lot of veterans in this country who are maimed are disabled from other wars, who were not volunteers because of conscription... some of us were poor, some bought the rhetoric of 'just cause,' some just wanted to prove something to themselves or others because it was the 'right thing to do.' I can say from personal experience 'patriotic fervor' does not bring back limbs, organs, or minds damaged in battle. I was a medic at a combat support base during the Vietnam War and it changed my life, how I view my fellow Americans, my neighbors, and there sometimes uninformed and ignorant opinions about war, patriotism, and their 'my country right or wrong attitude.' With all the resources America has, why must the first avenue always be 'might makes right?' I will be celebrating Veterans day at home with the memories of my friends who lost their lives and the casualities I saw who may or may not have made it back, and not attending a parade that glorifies and marginalizes those sacrifices that were made for political adventurism or to line the pockets of military contractors or war profiteers while depersonalizing and minimalizing the individuals, their families, and their suffering. I wish each 'celebrant' at these Veterans Day events had to personally look in the face of a mother, wife or child of someone who just died in battle to 'thank them for their sacrifice'... I believe if it were a requirement to do so before attending an event like this, participation would fall off dramatically.
I like Veterans Day Parades just the way they are now. It's a very traditional way to honor the military and those that served. I believe that most people like things that are traditional because there's a sense of familiarity with them that can't be truly experienced in other ways. Hopefully the Veterans Day Parades will continue in the same manner they have in America since they first begun.
This parade is about coming together and honoring all Veterans. Not all Veterans are in a hospital and disabled. True we are in a terrible place right now. Our children are being taught a sense of patriotism and have the opportunity to go to the parade and honor true heroes. When was the last time any of you set foot in a VA hospital? I am a disabled Veteran and I am a girl scout leader. I spoke with my girls about Veterans and we were able to meet and march in the parade with Veterans. You people need to relax and enjoy a few minutes. By the way , there was not confetti thrown. Just tons of American flags waving in the air.
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