Veterans, the measurement of a nation
When you think of the greatness of a nation, what is it you measure it by? Is it how many of the rich live within the nation? Is it the number of mansions? Is it how the poor and needy are cared for? We hear a lot of talk about how great America is, but each of us have our own idea of what it takes to be truly great. Most of what makes America great boil down to the patriots who fought for all of it. From the time the founding fathers like Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Washington decided that the future of this new land depended on their courage, what was accomplished came at the price of the lives willing to fight for it all.
"Freedom isn't free" appears on bumper stickers and shows up in speeches. There is a price to pay for the way we live as there is a price to pay for all nations to secure their own destiny. We build monuments to these men and women and call them heroes. Twice a year, we give them parades on Memorial Day to honor those who died during war and on Veterans day to honor those who served. While these are all fine, most Americans would rather just have a day off to shop, have cookouts and ignore the reason for the day. Most of them have never had a family member who served, risked their lives or paid the price of with their lives, their health or their minds. To them, it's just another day while they enjoy what generations of warriors provided them with.
Politicians may envision the future, decide the paths and set the goals, it is not their lives that are at risk. It is the men and women who are willing to achieve it and fight for it the outcome is accomplished by. Yet with all of this, they are the last ones enjoying any of it.
They go where they are sent and fight the enemy the politicians label as such. They kill and are killed. They wound and are wounded. They fight side by side with their warrior tribes as military units and they unite with them as a family. For days, months and often years, they spend their days and nights only thinking of mission they have been given and taking care of each other. Their civilian family remains living in limbo until they return home as prayers rush to the ears of God to watch over them. When they return, that is when they are forgotten. They become civilians once more and are expected to rejoin their countrymen as if nothing they did was worthy of remembrance except on the two days on the calendar provide for them.
For too many, putting it behind them is mission impossible. They return with limbs no longer there, reminders of what they were willing to risk. They return with ears that no longer hear as well because of the sounds of the weapons used. They also return with eyes that can no longer see. This is what we accept as wounded. Visual wounds are easy to understand and an uncomfortable reminder of how we have what we have. It is the wound we cannot see with our eyes we ignore. The waiting and suffering of their families is forgotten. The children raised while their parent was deployed is set aside. All is forgotten when they come home until another monument is raised to "honor" them or another May or November comes around.
The majority of the citizens in this nation will suddenly remember they had a parent or grandparent who served in the military. It is unfortunate they cannot remember or have never known what a member of their own family did to provide what they now enjoy. They pass by cemeteries filled with flags. They complain about the traffic being detoured for a parade. They flip the channel when a documentary comes on about wars of the past or a news report about a funeral for a soldier killed in their town. They pass by a homeless person with a sign saying "veteran" dismissing them as a fake who just wants to get suckers to support them. They will fight Town Hall to make sure a homeless veterans shelter does not open in their neighborhood. They ignore veterans homes falling apart thinking that at least they get to stay there for free when they have to put their own parents into a nursing home and pay with their own inheritance. They complain about the taxes being spent on VA hospitals and clinics at the same time they seem to have no problem with the fact a lot more of their tax money goes to supporting the active military and defense of the nation.
What they do not acknowledge is that veterans are the measurement of this nation. They are what made us great and able to depend on what was provided under the Constitution and Bill of Rights patriots have always been willing to risk their lives for. They are the measurement by which all future generations will gauge as worthiness of that risk.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington
We have forgotten it all when we dismiss the needs of the men and women who were willing to serve by volunteering or by draft. Those who were drafted in the past could have decided to not go. They could have gone to another nation for sanctuary or into hiding or to jail but they decided to go where they were being sent. They risked their lives equally with those who enlisted willingly. The Vietnam veterans have a slogan we see all the time, "All gave some, some gave all." Yet we ignore it when it comes to what they need because they did.
The Veterans Administration should never be spending that is "decided" upon instead of anticipated and required. There should never be hearings to find out what we are not doing to take care of them because everyone should be doing all they can in order to do it. When their lives are committed to be risked, the care for the wounded should also be planned for at the same time they are ordering the equipment and weapons in order to do it. They should never be last on anyone's list of things to do.
The measurement of this nation is measured with their lives and up until today, this nation has not measured up to the challenge. This "grateful nation" seems all to willing to come up with excuses to short change, put off and provide for the wounded kicking and screaming the cost is too great. We hear it all the time. In one breath we hear the politicians claim how much we owe those who serve and in the next breath they will vote against the spending bills to actually do it. When it comes to them, we do not keep our words of "honor" and find it nearly impossible to live up to the claim "freedom is not free" when we think our financial war debt is paid in full when they come home.
It is not the warriors who decide where, when or why they risk their lives and it is not up to them if they become wounded. It should also not be up to them to fight the government for their wounds to be treated and for their futures to be provide for. All they need should be automatically taken care of if we were truly ever really willing to live up to what we claim. It's time we added to "support the troops" the words "support the veterans" if we are ever going to be measured with honor.
Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
