By Armita Rohani
Imagine facing all hell and the All-Mighty, watching some of the most horrific and inhumane scenes in history, and putting your life on the line for a generation of entitled brats who don’t think twice about the sacrifices you made for their freedom. Veterans and military personnel are the only reason we have this country to begin with; only two days of the year are set aside to honor them and the majority of people don’t even bat an eye. Veterans Day is not another day off, it’s a day to honor and commemorate people who have served our country so that we can have the rights we take for granted today.
Originally known as Armistice Day, Veterans Day celebrated the ceasefire that ended World War I on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month in 1918; it was originally made to celebrate the veterans of the First “Great War.” A year later, President Woodrow Wilson made Armistice Day official, but after World War II and the Korean War, people wanted to celebrate all veterans–not just those of WWI. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the holiday to Veterans Day in 1954, broadening the scope to honor all veterans. On this day, wreaths of poppies will be laid on military cemeteries, and at 11 A.M. “Taps” will be played to commemorate the dead, alongside a nationwide moment of silence.
November 11th isn’t just another day where you get to sit at home and do Lord knows what. There are people who died for the nation under the American flag and as people who get to enjoy those rights, it’s about time that we–as a nation–start being thankful for them. All those names you see carved in memorials aren’t just names, they’re people. People who once had lives as complex and beautiful as your own, dead so that you can enjoy yours. They left their families, their homes, their friends, and the comfort of safety to be shelled and bombed over and over again. They had to kill people and watch their comrades get killed over and over again. The same cycle repeating for years every single day, over and over again. Survival was based on chance and by God; Lord knew if the next shot was aimed at you or the next bomb was aimed over your head. And they had to put up with that, let alone the cold, the hunger, the smell, and the rats for years in order to finally get peace. All of that suffering and murder just so we could be free.
The privilege we have of being one of the most free countries in the world came at a high cost and the fact that it’s being ignored is disgusting. Be thankful for the country you live in, be thankful for the freedom you have, and be thankful for the sacrifices that our veterans made to secure that freedom. Stand for the pledge of allegiance and don’t walk through it or ignore it–teachers there or not. And if you really don’t care or think much for the day, then bloody educate yourself. How entitled and ignorant do you have to be to not be thankful for your freedoms? How can you stand there and say you deserved such a life when there are billions of people around the world who could only dream of being in the nation you’re in? Our veterans fought for this and so many of them died for this. Died for you. I don’t care that you’re not patriotic or you think this country is oppressive; these people died so that you could have the chance to have a better life than they ever did. Without them, you’d be either working to death in a Nazi work camp or starving while the communist dictators frollicked off your struggles and misery.
So be thankful; don’t treat it like another day off. Honor those who have died for you, thank them, and thank God for blessing you with these freedoms.
