Another year, another Veterans' Day, that strange day when the veterans of the US military are lauded, while the needs of many veterans are left unmet. As of 2019, there were over 67,000 homeless veterans in the United States. Reliable statistics indicate that approximately 12.9% of veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since 9/11/2001, over 30,000 veterans have taken their lives.
I'm not a fan of empty platitudes. We owe our veterans better care, financially, socially, and psychologically, than they receive. We are bombarded by exhortations to 'thank the troops' while neglecting to care for them in a meaningful fashion. Military personnel and veterans are used as political props, as long as it is convenient, but attacked when they are seen as political opponents.
We need to do better as a society. We need to be more judicious about military deployments, we need to better support military personnel in the field, and we need to provide better benefits when they return home. In short, we need to treat our veterans as valued members of our society, rather than backdrops for photo ops.
Thank you. I had a conversation about this day at the local market. I usually like to talk with people who live here.
ReplyDeleteShe asked if i was a veteran. I told her no, i missed out, i stayed here. That was a whole universe of conversations.
I thank her for including me.
Until 1954, what we know now as Veterans Day was known as Armistice Day. It was a day to celebrate the end of WWI. A day to celebrate peace. I think we should go back to celebrating peace on Nov 11th and stop this hollow and meaningless veneration of veterans.
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