honor

I hope you had a chance to thank a veteran today.  They often don't ask for thanks.  Sometimes they shy from the attention you offer.  Yet, thank them anyway.  Veterans have demonstrated service to us, our country, and often our world.  They do this with little pay, slight recognition, and even less time with the people and places they love.  They do what they do, often to leave their service with more scars than joys.  

My brother is a veteran.  In my selfishness, I sometimes wish he wasn't.  I sometimes wish he didn't have a calling that takes him into harm, away from those who love him.  I sometimes wish it was easier to understand his work, or support his deployments, or agree with his leaders.  Being a veteran has cost him holidays and birthdays away from his young daughter.  It has stressed his marriage with long-distance phone calls and parenting from afar.  It has sent him into months of loneliness, and moved him far from his home.  

His work has offered opportunities to earn respect and insight from some of the world's best people.  Being a veteran has given him much work, much pride, and many skills.  It has shown him the mixed reaction of citizens who prefers sound-bites and statistics over understanding the complexities of his work.  It has made him a simple and convenient image for those who want to elevate their political ideas.  It has also helped him understand the richness of his own ideas and beliefs.

If you don't have a brother, or relative, or friend who's a veteran, I'm sorry.  You may have to look to a stranger to say thanks.  They are walking & working among you.   They are also hidden.  Look in a soup kitchen, shelter, or hospital to find many who deserve your honor.  

Thank you, bro, for your service and commitment to a calling I don't always understand & sometimes don't want to support.  Thank you, veterans, for the honor you've shown us all.