Today is the Day I Wish I Didn't Have to Say "Thank You"

Image by Katariina Järvinen via Flickr

Veterans Day.

Armistice Day.

Remembrance Day.

No matter what it is called, today is the day we are asked to thank Veterans for their service to our country. Today is a day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives fighting for something  they believe in, in the name of god or country or Democracy or something else.

Is it wrong that I wish I didn’t have to say thank you?

I do thank them. I have met many wonderful men and women who have served in the military and showed me what that means to them. I have talked to many people who have lost friends, husbands, wives and parents to the cause.  I recognize that what they do takes  a form of courage that I do not have.

Yet still I wish I didn’t have to say thank you.

I wish we lived in a world where we did not need to sacrifice loved ones in the name of killing others. I wish we lived in a world where words, diplomacy, fairness and acceptance truly ruled, rather than guns and hatred. I wish I lived in a world where the military did not have to exist.

I wish I lived in a place where service to one’s country meant helping build better schools, giving people shelter, providing healthy food, taking care of the elderly and the sick, celebrating difference, and embracing discussion.

But I don’t.

So instead, today I must simply  say “Thank you.”

Let’s hope for a better future.

Image by Pierce Place via Flickr

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