Today is Veterans Day in these God-blessed United States. We hear a lot about "honoring the veterans," but that's a kind of anonymous phrase. So here's the face of one, one individual Veteran, on which to focus. This face, conveying such emotion, belongs to Joseph Ambrose, at age eighty-six. In this 2005 photo he holds the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Maybe he looks like someone you've known, as he does to me. If Joseph Ambrose still can, no doubt he attended his local Veterans Day parade and festivities today.
At least for today let's set aside the rhetoric and arguing about the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan. Veterans Day centers on honoring those men and women who over the past two-plus centuries served the United States. They served–and so do those serving now–to ensure this way of life endures, even though we so often criticize and take our freedoms for granted.
Veterans Day feels more personal to us than it once did. Our two older grandda
ughters both are serving in the U. S. Navy–and we are proud of them. Like every family of those who serve in the U.S. military, a touch of uncertainty injects itself into one's thinking. That goes with the territory. We rest in God's protection over them, as we do for all our family members.
So let us give thanks for our Veterans, not just on November 11th, but every day. Let's be thankful for all those who set aside their lives to serve in the Armed Forces of these United States, in years past and in the present. You and I are blessed to live in this wonderful country–every day.
Here's to hanging onto that thankful spirit!
Lenore
Your comments welcomed!
Leave a Reply