Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day elicits a lot of mixed emotional responses from the Veterans I know.  It’s one of those areas where I don’t have the life experience to have a genuinely informed opinion, and being a person who speaks with authority on things I don’t understand is something I work to avoid (because I am naturally prone to get carried away and do so, and there is perhaps nothing more annoying that that).

So to the Veterans I know and work and laugh and cry with: thank you.  For travelling to the edges of the human experience, to face things you couldn’t imagine (both inside and outside of yourself) and for coming back to tell the stories unflinchingly.  Each of you will tell me that you are absolutely not the best or bravest person, that there are other people better and braver and who have sacrificed more.  That’s fine.  I get what you’re saying.  Regardless of what you did/do in the military, regardless of how you feel about the uniform, what I’m saying is that I am grateful for YOU.  In the time that you have welcomed me into your lives,  I have witnessed the greatest concentration of responsibility, selflessness and strength I’ve ever seen anywhere.  Being a part of that is something to be proud of, even when there are parts you struggle with owning.