The Perspective of an Aging Veteran

This day is important for many reasons.  It is a reminder that we should be thankful for those Veterans still among us.  To me, this sentiment should be held every day of the year as we enjoy the gifts they have provided through hard fought service. 

 It is easy as a proud Gen X’er to see why service is so very important to our way of life.  After all, my generation acted as the bridge between our Greatest generation, allowed us—in many cases—to know our World War I veterans, and live through a post 9/11 age.  When my grandfather left service in 1946, between 11% and 12% of our population (numbering approximately 141.4 million people) were veterans.  Today, our Veterans number between 15.5 to 18 million within a populace of 347 million people.  This constitutes about 6% of our population.  Why is this important?  Well, this means that fewer people within our nation are related to or deal directly with veterans today.  More of America is informed by social networking, movies, and streaming series about military service than actually know and talk to people who serve or have served. 

 As a society, we must be very careful.  The adage, “you never know what you have until it is gone,” rings ominously if our young generations don’t see the value in service to the nation.  Military service looks shabby when compared to internet influencer with all of it’s (mostly false) trappings.  Something that we held as innately important and valued has become seemingly dingy for our children who idolize the fame and lifestyles being pumped into them from big technologies algorithms.  Our challenge is to constantly remind our children of how fragile their freedoms and lifestyles really are without becoming rambling old men and women.  I think this might be the most important service we can provide in our post-service lives to honor our veterans today.

Remember, every generation has its war.  If we are to honor our current veterans and memorialize our past servicemembers, we must keep the value of selflessness alive in a selfish time. 

Thanks to all who have served on this day, and thanks to all in the future that answer the call.