It’s Veterans Day! Thank You
November 11th, 2008 | By Sonnie Johnson
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
What does it take to knowingly walk into a dangerous situation, far from home? Even more, what does it take to do it for people that you don’t even know? What does it take to volunteer your life in the service of your country?
What does it take as an American to say Thank You? Whether you agree with a war or not, that has nothing to do with the troops that serve. The ones that strap up and move out on the orders of a commander and chief of the greatest nation in the world. The ones that sleep on the hard ground only to be awakened by the sound of gunfire. The ones that tell their family and friends goodbye as they march towards and uncertain fate. Just say Thank You.
I threw a party for my girlfriend last year. One of her friends bought a solider just back from Iraq. I’m not the type to cater to anyone but this man got my undivided attention. I constantly made my way to this hero every chance I got, asking if I could refresh his drink or get him something to eat. My girl thought I was hitting on him but he knew different.
He pulled me aside and asked if he could talk. I was excited because I thought he was going to talk about what he went through. Instead, he told me to stop being so nice because he was just doing his job. I told him I was just doing my job, giving him a little praise for his service to me. He wasn’t willing to accept anything for his service but I refused to stop.
That is the wonder of an American Solider. While other countries parade their troops around in neat formations, our troops take mortar fire. While other countries cry for us to change policy, our soldiers are changing countries. While other countries make their soldiers fight to eat, our soldiers volunteer to fight so we can eat, drink, and be merry.
In this time of financial disaster, I think we forget one really important thing. Our economy would mean nothing if it weren’t for our military might. We have the ability to work our way through this down turn because we have troops willing to fight to protect us while we figure out what to do next. While average Americans try to figure out how to pay their light bill, there is a solider giving you the freedom. While the government is giving another bail out, there is a soldier saving his fellow soldiers life. And all I can say is Thank You.
So today, stop thinking about yourself. Instead spend a couple seconds thinking about where your freedom comes from. We would still be under Englands’ rule if there weren’t soldiers to fight. Black people would still be slaves if there weren’t soldiers to fight. Jews might have been killed off if there weren’t soldiers to fight. Kuwait would be apart of Iraq if there weren’t soldiers to fight. Where would you be if we didn’t have soldiers willing to fight?
And while you are thinking about these things, write a letter to a solider abroad and just say thank you.
These are the sites I write to. Just take a couple moments to send a Hero a message to keep them going. Say hi. Say I’m thinking about you. Say Thank You.
