Veterans Day… A true look within.

Veterans Day takes on a much more poignant significance every year.  As we get older we can fully appreciate what it means to us as a person and as a nation.  It slowly transforms into one of the days that matter most in our lives, or at least it should.     As I prepared to write this piece, I reviewed my feelings about Veterans Day.  The good, the bad and the ugly.

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At one point, conflict involving the United States seemed like a remote possibility in our near future.   I can think back and remember a family member’s going away party.  Not going away to war, but going into the service.   No one knew then, that a few years later, we would be attacked in the most horrific way imaginable.  (Well, the most horrific way imaginable to date……)

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Like most going away, or going into the service parties, most of us were deep in our cups.   My family member, and I were the same.  In a moment of clarity my family member  took me away from the other guests.  He said to me, “  If I die while serving my country, tell my mother, I died doing what I believed in.”  He then walked away.

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This man is a man of few words, at times.   He did not die in war.  We did  however, as a family, lose our cousin Sgt. Kyle Harrington.  My family member, himself,  lost so much more.  Countless other friends, brothers, sisters and family members all taken from him.   All people that he met in the service, and he grew to love while they shared a common bond.  The bond of saving the lives of each other, and saving our own.  It has taken me many years to put this into words, and meaning.

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This year, it’s so important to teach that Veterans Day means more than just a day off from school.   Patriotism is wide-spread at this moment in American history, so consider taking some time to give this sentiment even deeper meaning in your life.

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Did this man, that I love so much, mean that he believed in war.  Not at all, or at least I do not believe so.  I did however,  need to understand why?  Why could you possibly believe in this?  At first, I truly thought he saw into the future and believed in the war we were currently involved in.  The war on Iraq.  Fighting against terrorism.   I wanted to scream…Can’t you see the tears in our eyes?  Cant you see the lines under our eyes for lack of sleep?  Can’t you see the piles of letters stacked and not sent because not receiving one back made us worry you were dead.   All mommy does is drink, cry and watch CNN, can’t you see that? What about your god daughter, she asks all the time about you, and the war.  How do I explain this to her, so young?  I could not answer a question about you without breaking down into sobs.  There was so much I needed to say to you, before it was to late.  So much that went through my head all night long, while I sat up waiting for the door bell to ring, or the phone to ring.

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I was angry.  Not at him, but at my country and the people that did this to my country.  Angry for hurting people that were good people.  Hurting people I loved.   Then his words gave me peace and strength.   It suddenly hit me like a brick coming down from heaven.  “If I die, I died doing what I believed in.”  He didn’t believe in war.  He believed in our COUNTRY.  He believed in AMERICA.  He believed in what AMERICA stood for, what AMERICA was, and what AMERICA would become.   He understood that as a country we were not perfect, but it was OUR country, and it was the best in the world.   ( In our opinion.)  He believed that the children, my children, are our future.  America is forever evolving, growing, changing and learning from itself.   The veterans of America are protecting that.  They are not just protecting the people of America, they are protecting the future of America. They are protecting the dream of America.

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They are protecting the right to speak our minds, change our leaders and change our laws to make America a better place.  Do we get it wrong at times, hell yeah.  What parent is perfect?  For isn’t that what we are?  A parent, teaching our child…America…how to act and who to be?

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This job will never be complete.  As long as America is alive, it will be aging and growing.  It will need parents to teach it.  As long as it needs parents, it will need veterans to protect those parents and to protect it.  There are very bad people out there, people that like hurting children.  It does not matter the type of child.  Bad comes in all forms.

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Thank you Veterans and veterans families.  Thank you for all you have given.  Not just the time served, but everything that goes into it.  Most times, what you have given in the name of your country, no one can get you back.   We understand that, and are humbled that you gave so willingly to protect our very existence.  Thank you families, for your quiet pain and public support.  What you give is often, a thankless position.  Thank you to the Veterans that did not come back to their families.  You gave everything, and no amount of thank you is enough.  Families of those men and woman, what can I say?

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Faith, it would be so much easier for you to go on without keeping Kyle in your life.  To move away, raise the beautiful children you have with just a mere memory of who Kyle was, would be so much easier.  This however, was never a consideration.  You have raised those children knowing full well who Kyle was, is and forever will be.  You have been the strongest woman I have ever met, and those children have 2 heroes.   How could they not when their father gave everything to protect them, and their mother showed them how to live…  That is what you show them Faith.  How to live!  How to love!  How to feel Kyle’s love, even now.  You are amazing!  Thank you.

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One day, I promise, it will all come together and you can stop asking yourself why.

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Thank you all.  Thank you, all of you, so very much… for my life.

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In America I believe!

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Tags: history of america, Kimberly Veautour, United States of America, vet, veterans, veterans day, White House