Veteran's Day

Monday is set aside as a tribute to our Veterans. It's our way of saying thank you and we recognize your efforts and sacrifice. We  need a reminder sometimes I think. The United States didn't come to where it is easy or by chance. It's been a hard fought battle every step of the way. Freedom has a price doesn't it?

My parents, uncles, aunts and friends made sure us kids knew that veterans were special. That's the way I learned it anyway. We visited many of them in the apartment complexes built just north of 28th street by Kalamazoo. About three stories high with no elevators, those apartments were filled with veterans coming back from service along with their families. I was too young to understand the economics of the situation but I could feel the importance. My folks would bring little things for the kids and maybe a casserole or other dish. My dad would give rides to job interviews or doctors or sometimes just a ride on Sunday afternoon for the whole family. The apartments are long gone now. There is a golf course there instead.

The movies at the time highlighted the heroism of our armed forces. In school we started the day with the Pledge of allegiance. Downtown was the community hub and it seemed that whenever we went there people could be seen wearing a uniform of one branch of the armed forces or another. I had several heroes in my own family from the navy, the air force, the army and the marines. I was in awe of them. The whole family held them in esteem. I haven't forgotten that.

Every day of the year we live in a free country preserved by our armed forces. Every day of the year it may be a good idea to remember the huge price paid for our freedom. A society such as ours is only as good as the morals and integrity of the people living in it. All too often I hear people who have no concept of what we are all about. Our veterans do. I do my best to live my life as a real tribute to our veterans and their sacrifice. We all enjoy rights and freedoms because of them. It's best we don't allow those rights and freedoms to disappear. Sometimes I feel as though more veterans might just be what we need in politics. They know the price.