It was the Great War, the War to End all Wars. It was supposed to be the final war; the cost and the pain so high that no one would ever think to start another of such magnitude.
Many will pause today, remembering the war dead. 11 am marking the moment the guns fell silent on the Western Front in 1918. That quiet, signaling the end of what we now know as the First World War. The Armistice being signed just a few minutes later.
It would have been nice, had the peace lasted. Had we not set ourselves up for the next war, and the one after that and the one after that.
We have generalized the holiday from Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day. Please pause this morning and thank the veterans that you know for their service. Visit a memorial, say a few words to those around you about your grandparents, great-grandparents or others in the family who have served their country.
Acknowledge as well those who are serving today whether it is your neighbor’s child now in boot camp to those out in the remote Control Points.
Lo yisa goy el goy herev…
May those who make all weapons be forced to beat them into plowshares or windmills or fuel efficient cars. May we find a way to reach across fences and live in peace – speedily and in our own lifetime.
Lo yilmadu od milchama…
This is beautiful!
I thank all of you for your service.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fojukFxpPMI
Hugs and thanks to you, especially, my friend.
Sending my thanks to you!
Thank you so much! I appreciate what you have given up for us!
As always, very well said.
THANK YOU! Very inspiring message.
yes, thank you for your service and for making the experience so much more real for a total outsider.
The papers are full, just for a day, of stories about Vets, particularly the wounded warriors stories. These are not hard stories to find, because the Vets (wounded or not, deceased or not) and their families have amazing stories of courage and sacrifice and tragedy and joy. However, print space is less and less, reporters are fewer and fewer, and no doubt it is not the glamour beat that gets you in line for the Pulitzer. People are interested, however, and keen to know more, and many are keen to Do Something. (So, people make afghans and send Any Soldier cards and so forth. And war books are very popular.)
Anyway, thanks for what you and your colleagues are doing, for all the sacrifices you are making and risks you are taking. You have our gratitude even though most of us don’t understand what the heck is going on.
We pray for your safety, but in the long run the best safety is not to have wars. I pray that one day we can stop trying to problem-solve by blowing stuff and people up.
Next year you become the veteran.
Over that last decade here in the states, It has become a much more important day.
Suggested reading if you didn’t read it in Q8. “A Peace to End All Peace.” Or how the UK Foreign Office had one or two people who managed to screw things up to the point that I am doubtful about the plowshares in my lifetime.
Thanks for being there,
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.”
–Calvin Coolidge,
30th U.S. president,
quoted for Veterans Day in the U.S., Nov. 11, 2010
Well put. Thank you for your service and for all of our Brothers and Sisters-in-arms. May those that have gone before never be forgotten.
Berg
“These things we do…that others may live”
Or, in the words of my ancestors, “Cuiridh mi clach cur do charn” (I will put a stone on your cairn.)
Thank you.
Amen to that! I would love for both of my career fields to be unnecessary.