377 days - Blog #105, 11-11
So I had to work today.
The first Veterans’ Day I haven’t had off in at least a decade. I don’t say that as a complaint, merely that
it requires me to make a little extra effort to think about the fact it isn’t
just another ordinary Tuesday.
Of course, I go on Facebook… and that really isn’t a
problem. The feed is saturated with
thank yous and memes and American flags and… well, you know.
I’m the daughter and grand-daughter and great-grandaughter
of vets, so I don’t completely discount the gratitude. I do find myself irked that we suddenly
remember to say it on November 11th or the Monday closest to May 31st. Say it… not live the truth of it through any
serious fight or advocacy for health benefits or… even just a place to live and
stay warm in the country for which soldiers gave their lives or souls. But the thank you is important, even if it is
selfish. Because it lets us grapple with
the reality of war and its fallout for a few hours… and maybe even appreciate
the beauty of our country a little bit more.
Only, today’s holiday isn’t just about America. There are vets in every single country. And not all of them are on our side or of our
philosophy. But they believed in what they fought for. They fought with everything for
it. Are they less heroic just because
they weren’t American? Or fighting for
(with) America? Because they defended
the world and belief system into which they were born?
I remember reading All Quiet on the Western Front in 10th
grade. It was the first time I
understood the horror of trench warfare and machine guns. It was the first time I think I really got
inside the head of a soldier… well as far as a piece of literature allows. Of course, the thing about that novel is that
it was about the Germans. I forgot as I
read it that we were reading about our enemy.
I grieved very much at the death that came because of a need for the
perfection of an end to war on the 11th hour of the 11th
day of the 11th month. It was
absurd.
War hurts all the men and women who fight in battle. Or maybe don’t fight in battle, but are there
to do good for the cause. As
nurses. As ambulance drivers. As cooks.
As aides. As photographers. As translators. As entertainers. Of course they have a different experience…
and a different trauma. But is that any
less valuable a contribution to the theater of war because they did not hold
and fire a weapon? Where are their thank
yous? Where are the messages saying
because of them, we have a country and freedom and the privilege to forget?
I can’t imagine being a nurse. Day in and day out seeing the horror of
war. Holding hands as soldiers
died. Destroyed bodies and all that
blood. Then having to go back to the real
world and play the part of an obedient woman.
Do they count as vets?
Or what about men and women who fought and died or were
beaten or traumatized in the fights for freedom on our own land? Civil rights workers. Suffragettes.
Unions. I don’t ask this question
to take away from what today is supposed to honor. Merely to ask the question of
recognition. If the most valuable gift
(as one particularly repetitive meme seems to imply about writing a blank check
to the country suggests) one can give is her life, why do we not honor and
respect these other soldiers of freedom?
Many of whom were not armed, but against whom horrific acts of violence
were committed.
And is it even enough to say thank you? It seems far too easy to utter a pair of words in
exchange for the unimaginable.
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