11/11

I was in a meeting at work a couple weeks ago, and I pointed out to the co-worker that Nov. 11 is Veterans Day. She looked at me and said, "How do you know that?"

I shrugged. It's one of the few holidays that's always the same day (rather than "the ___ Monday in ___ month"). And it's an important one, so I remember. I don't know how long I've remembered, I just do.

Veterans Day is such an important holiday, but it's also really difficult for me to find the right words/right way to say what I think and feel about it.

I respect the people who serve in our military.

But I also wish they didn't have to. And I wish the people who decided where they go and what they have to do made better decisions. I wish there weren't monuments to people whose lives were cut tragically short, because instead they got to live great, long lives. I wish there weren't families that had to live with the pain of losing someone, especially when they couldn't be there to say goodbye.

But all my idealistic wishing doesn't change anything. We live in a world that can be scary and dangerous and horrible sometimes. We live in a world where people with the power to command armies (formal and informal) regularly make them do horrible things...sometimes, just because they can.

I hate that that's so.

But don't think for a second that I hate the people who are willing to sacrifice their lives (in the literal sense, yes, but also figuratively -- leaving their families and friends behind) to protect the rest of us. I am in complete awe of them.