“Patriotism is not a song in the street and a wreath on a column and a
flag flying from a window. It is a thing very holy and
very terrible like life itself. It is a burden to be borne, a thing to
labor for and to suffer for and to die for; a thing which
gives no pleasure and no happiness—but a hard life and an unknown grave,
and the respect and bowed heads of those that follow…”
In Flanders Fields the poppies grow,
Between the crosses row on row.
That mark our place and in the sky,
The larks still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead, short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved
And now we lie in Flanders Fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold on high,
For if you break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.
Once again it is that time of the year. Veteran’s Day is upon us. I love Veteran’s Day, a month or so ago a friend of mine sent me a definition of a Veteran, it is one I had never seen before, it is one that I really appreciate, it goes like this
“A VETERAN - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my life.' Some of us didn't have this check cashed, others did.”
That definition is why I love Veteran’s Day, it gives us the opportunity (although we should do it more often) to thank ALL our veteran’s, no matter when they served and no matter what branch they served in. I would like to thank everyone one of you for your service and sacrifice on behalf of myself and my family. I hope you will all take a moment over the weekend to reflect on what it took to devote some portion of your life for some period of time to something bigger than yourselves.
