I like Veterans. I do not like Veterans Day. It is patriotism gone too far. Yes, we should respect and honor the people that are called to serve this nation, but we should encourage looking forward on this day, not looking backward. If we looked forward instead of backward, we would stop repeating the same errors we have made as a country and we wouldn’t need to make any new veterans.
Right now many of our fellow students are fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq. ome of us have family members or relatives who are standing there with them. My own brother is stationed in Helmand province. A few weeks ago he saw a man accidentally blow himself to bits while trying to set an IED on an American bridge. He is only 19 years old.
Some of our fathers fought in the Persian Gulf, Vietnam or Korea. Some of these wars could be considered just (if we can really call any war just) but violence begets violence and we have been practicing a lot of violence lately. I met a young man from Pakistan a few days ago and I asked him what he thought of American-Pakistan national relations since Al Qaeda and Taliban factions have started to spread into Pakistan. His opinion was that war was about money and control, not freedom. He said something I will never forget-that fighting for peace is like f****** for virginity.
I hope that while we still do have veterans, we honor them by making the most difficult choice of all. We should choose to fight with respect and dignity, understanding that for every nation we invade, every bomb that we drop, every bullet that we fire, we create another veteran in another country as well. If we are not conscious of our actions, in twenty years we may be fighting another war, against the sons and daughters of the people we are fighting today.
We all have a choice. We can embrace war and show pride on Veterans Day or we can detest war and resolve to make sure that one day we will no longer have to bury men with flags. I prefer the latter.