Giving Thanks

I’m a little late in my recollections of Veterans Day, but like they say, better late than never.

With the end of the fighting in what was then known by many as the “War to End All Wars,” November 11, 1918, marked a day of remembrance for all those who gave their lives serving in World War I. Because so many believed this to be the last large-scale war we would ever see, The First World War became a much-memorialized war for all of the countries who participated. In the United States in 1954, after both World War II and the Korean War, what was once called Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in order to honor, celebrate, and commemorate all those who have served in any war.

Growing up in my household, as was and is true in many others, Veterans Day was held in high regard. My own father served in the U.S. Army from 1967-1971 and then served two more years in the Army reserves. Even when I tried to press him, my dad didn’t really want to talk about his year in Vietnam, or the year and a half or so that he was stationed in Turkey. Other than a few random (usually humorous) stories about some of his buddies, I never really knew much about his service to our country.

As I got older, I came to understand how hard it must have been for him to talk about and relive what he experienced while in the Army. I also came to see how proud he was of service, even if he couldn’t really put that into words.

For better or worse, I know my dad’s time in the military made him into the man he became. I’ve written previously how, for all his faults, my dad was my hero, even if he never realized it. Earlier this month marked nine years since he died. I miss him every day, but I’m thankful for the time I had with him and for his part in making me into the man I am.

It’s not lost on me that Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day occur in the same month. The celebration of Thanksgiving had been held unofficially in most states at various times for as long as there had been a United States. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for a time of celebration and thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. Even with all of the death and destruction in the country; even with the country literally divided in two, Lincoln and his administration thought it was important for Americans to pause and celebrate all of the good that still existed in the world. And this tradition has been continued ever since.

No matter how bad things may seem at times, we all have something to be thankful for. We can be thankful for something as basic as the life we were given. And there is no reason to wait for a certain holiday to tell us to be grateful. Each day is a new opportunity for all of us to leave the world a little better than it was when we got here and to be grateful for what we have.