It is a certainty that throughout the course of history in our country, no one group of people has done more to preserve this nation and protect its citizens than our veterans.
In 1789 George Washington said, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country."
A few days ago a study was released that on any given night last year, nearly 196,000 veterans slept on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing. That number doesn't seem that big until you realize that accounts for more than 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States - this although they represent only 11 percent of the civilian adult population.
How many of us see a panhandler at a street corner and just look away, we avert our eyes for fear of making contact with this person. I am as guilty as the next person but it may be time to rethink how we treat these people. One out of every four you see are veterans! 89 percent of these homeless veterans received an honorable discharge and yet we do nothing to help them.
These are men and women who have answered the call of this nation, who have served honorably and have sacrificed so much for all of us. That we as a nation cannot find the means to care for those who defended us is incomprehensible and I find it offensive. If of all people our veterans do not deserve a helping hand, then who does?
Army Sergeant Eddie Jeffers wrote a letter to the editor back in February and in it he said, "Even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler."
Sadly, Sergeant Jeffers won't be walking down the streets of his hometown in a year. At the young and tender age of 23, on September 19, 2007, he was killed in Iraq. He paid the ultimate sacrifice - not only for Americans, but for those that aspire to be like us. He did this despite believing that he would not be appreciated.
And what about those that do come home from this war and those that have from previous ones? What about those without limbs? Those with scars earned on the field of battle? And what about those that bear scars beneath the skin that aren't visible - the kinds of scars that will come to life in nightmares every night for the rest of their lives?
When their time in the service is over and they try to piece together what's left of themselves, will we be there as a nation to lend a hand? What will we do to help those that have spent years dodging death and those that cradled comrades as they died? Will we honor them and will we help them? Will we turn our backs? Are they simply something to be ashamed of like some odd kind of urban blight that we dare not look at and want to hide from public view? Will we not at least take this one day a year to honor them?
Whether homeless or not. Wounded in battle or someone who served stateside behind a desk. 20 years old, 40 or 80 years old. Airman, soldier, Marine or sailor. THESE ARE OUR VETERANS. They are and were the young men and women who took the burden of freedom on their shoulders so others would not have to.
I am reminded of an old World War II propaganda poster that I have in my office here at work. It depicts an American soldier lying dead over a barbed wire fence. The caption says, "You talk of sacrifice. He KNEW the meaning of sacrifice."
Today it isn't like World War II when people rationed food, turned in cars to be made into tanks and saved grease to be made into glycerin for bombs. Everyone sacrificed something for that war. Contrast that with today where citizens haven't been asked to sacrifice anything.
America is not a nation at war. We are a nation with its military at war.
It is the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who are sacrificing their lives so that others in a foreign land may someday enjoy the freedoms which we all take for granted. It is the veteran who, for over 231 years has fought for these freedoms and given them to millions of other people.
In 1962, General Douglas MacArthur gave a farewell speech at West Point. In part, he said:
"It is the story of the American man at arms. My estimate of him was formed on the battlefields many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then, as I regard him now, as one of the world's noblest figures; not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.
"His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give. He needs no eulogy from me, or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.
"But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements."
All too often the soldiers, the Marines, the sailors and the airmen stand alone. They stand when others are unwilling or unable. They answer the call to serve while others turn a deaf ear.
God and the Soldier, we adore,
In time of danger, not before.
The danger passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the Soldier slighted.
- Rudyard Kipling
Just as we seem to have turned our backs on the homeless veterans, we dishonor all veterans when we do not take the time to properly recognize our defenders on this, the one day set aside to ensure they are never forgotten. This Veterans Day let us not forget their sacrifices; let us not slight our veterans.
God bless you, God bless our veterans and God bless America.