I’ve stolen today’s title from my friend Liz’s post this morning on Facebook honoring her dad and all the other veterans  today for Veterans Day. I thought it was a great way to sum up what we should be doing and feeling today and every day.

Like most people in my generation, my dad and his brothers all served in the armed services. But, by the time I came along, those days were long gone and the only tidbits I’d ever hear were stories about my uncle riding an elephant in India, another uncle involved in chemical warfare, or how my dad, as an athletic director in the Navy, taught people to swim. It wasn’t that I was looking for war stories, but the discussion of that time period was always limited to a few highlights, for lack of a better word.

The picture above is of my dad, on the left, my grandma and my Uncle Dan. Looks like my dad is being forced into taking a picture.

When I worked in Rosslyn, which is full of military offices and personnel, I was with a friend in Starbucks. A black car drove up and let a gentleman out in a military uniform. We were milling around and he ended up in line ahead of us. Very nice man. We exchanged pleasantries as we stood in line. Then we were basically pushed aside as many others, all in uniform, came over to shake his hand. We both stood there trying to figure out who he was. Turns out, after a Google image search, it was Gen. Richard B. Myers, U.S. Air Force, who at the time was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This position is the highest ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the main military adviser to the President of the United States and we had no idea who he was. Maybe we aren’t suppose to know who these people are but wow, made us feel dumb when we realized who he was.

Whether we know who’s at the top in the military or those who are enlisted, we owe them much respect, honor and gratitude. They fight to protect all the freedoms we enjoy. Freedoms which allow us to debate whether they should be involved in conflicts or burn the flag or all the other things our Constitution allows.  They make countless and unseen sacrifices for us and we are indebted to them and their families for this service.

On Saturdays in Olney, not far from where I live, there are people who stand on opposite sides of the main intersection holding signs. On one side is the group with signs that say “Peace, not war” and on the other is the group that hold signs that say “Support our Troops.” I always wonder why they feel they are on opposite sides, because they aren’t.  Just because you may not believe we should enter military conflict, it doesn’t mean you aren’t supportive of the troops when that choice is made. Personally I think instead of spending the whole morning standing on a street corner begging for honks of support, these people should go spend that time with veterans in the hospitals nearby or help out a military family while their loved one is deployed.  That would be supporting the troops.

So today we make a special effort to say thanks to our veterans. Tomorrow let’s still remember to respect, honor and show gratitude for their service.