Today is Veterans Day in the USA. I do not celebrate it. I honor those who over the years have put their lives on the line, most often in service to greed and not freedom. They died in our names. They serve on our behalf, sometimes out of sheer need to survive. I appreciate the complexity of choices in our country where 1% of the population--generally from poor to working class social strata--bear the burden of hell that is war. They are wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And we owe each of them, especially the ones so damaged they never quite re-humanize. Every fallen military person takes to their grave a piece of the nation's soul. We owe them and their families. I do not celebrate on this day. I vow to continue to work for peace and justice so that our commemorating will not be in vain.
© Valerie Bridgeman
November 11, 2013
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