Veterans Day 2012
Sunday, November 11 is Veterans Day. Monday is when the holiday will be observed with bank closings and no postal delivery.
Here is an excellent set of facts about veterans in America from the United States Census Bureau. The Census reports that there were 21.5 million veterans in the United States as of 2011. Click the link for a statistical profile of America’s veterans.
Here is how the Census Bureau describes Veterans Day—
“Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 to change the name to Veterans Day as a way to honor those who served in all American wars. The day honors military veterans with parades and speeches across the nation. A national ceremony takes place at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.”
Here is the link to the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
Above you see a picture of where a portion of my father’s ashes are kept at the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island. Tony was a combat veteran of the Korean War.
While regretfully I have not yet been able to visit this cemetery, there is apparently a nice walking trail that you can explore at the cemetery that is maintained in part by the University of Rhode Island. URI is where my father attended college.
Here is what my father wrote some years ago about war—
“One thing that I learned is that the young men who fought in our wars should never be forgotten…Another fact I learned…is that millions may serve but far fewer fight. So, in reality, for many who have served, war is a glory-and-gory myth that feeds on its own legends and publicity.…Another truth I learned is that civilians are combatants in war–embattled victims perpetually on a losing side….That brings us to the biggest deception: The need to be ready defend our freedom if we are to keep it. Those who say that freedom has a price are absolutely right, and wrong: International conflict today is beyond ideology. The only freedom American and Russian leaders offer their people today is the freedom to kill ourselves in the name of freedom. This is not freedom, but allegiance to a suicidal death culture….Today, we are servile to our masters, mistaking economic well-being for true freedom, which is the freedom to live hopefully and not to die needlessly.”
A good thing we could do for our veterans is to respect them and treat them well while they are still with us.
Another good thing we could do is to stop uncritically venerating everything military—especially since so few are willing to serve in our all-volunteer forces and we are not at heart sincere as a nation in saying we respect those who serve—and work towards a culture of peace and true respect for human life.
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Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
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Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
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Texas Liberal 
“and we are not at heart sincere as a nation in saying we respect those who serve”
Nations don’t say anything. People say things.
If you are insincere in saying something, you may confess it yourself. But don’t project your insincerity onto your betters.
My “betters”–Yet you just lost an election to a coalition that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan felt would be to lazy to show up at the polls.
Of course nations say things. This is a society and not just a collection of individuals. The election last week was clear about that fact.
“My ‘betters’–Yet you just lost an election to a coalition that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan felt would be to [sic] lazy to show up at the polls.”
That says nothing about the quality of the people making up such a coalition — only that they’re numerous.
You haven’t addressed my point. You’re just doing a little touchdown dance.
Thank you for this posting, Neil. Your dad had it right and so do you.
Matt—You suggested that some people were my “betters.” (Which I admit is quite possible.) Yet we just had a campaign where one side was defined as being full of lazy moochers by the candidate that I’ll speculate you were more inclined to support. Please forgive the assumption if in fact you voted for Mr. Obama or for a Third Party candidate. Given the tone of the recent campaign, it seems relevant to mention that people called lazy by the Republican nominee had at least the energy to get to the polls.
Newton–Thank you.
“You suggested that some people were my ‘betters.'”
I didn’t suggest it. I asserted it explicitly. Do you disagree?
And I don’t think you want to use turnout as a proxy for personal worth; that model will fall apart very quickly.
“…people called lazy by the Republican nominee…”
When was this?
This exchange is even more stupid than most of our exchanges.