Let's Help our Veterans

Our nation has set aside a day in May and a day in November to salute those who sacrificed their time, health, and even life itself to protect the freedoms that we enjoy for 365 days each year. Extending our time away from commercial and scholastic pursuits for an extra day twice a year doesn’t sound like much in the way of compensation, does it? It sounds even less like commensurate compensation when we include the lack of support we offer those wounded in that defense.

I can think of no other human invention that is more injurious to our world than war. Yet, for political reasons, fine healthy men and women are sent into harm’s way. My father went to Europe to build bridges over the Rhine to deny the Fascists world power. Since then, thousands and thousands of our neighbors have battled for our freedoms in police actions, actions to stop the spread of communism, actions to deny despots the use of weapons of mass destruction, but never in a legally declared war by act of Congress. Legal or not, the fatalities in Korea, Viet Nam, all three Gulf actions, etc. are just as dead. The wounded just as maimed.

Even if those wounded just might not be obvious.

There are many ways a human can be wounded. We exist on four levels: Soul, Heart, Mind, and Body – and all levels can be damaged. I believe, feel, and think that no human can survive war unscathed. That is why we need to offer all our veterans our esteem and gratitude whenever and wherever we encounter them.

But then there are those Vet’s who need more – Our Wounded Warriors, Disabled Veterans.

Embedded shrapnel, lost limbs, internal injuries, PTSD, and so many other scars from the horrors of war linger in some Vets to the point where the leading of ‘a normal life’ becomes unnaturally difficult. Some suffer to such an extent that it makes it impossible. They are forced by their sacrifice to us to hover just beyond the fringe of ‘a normal life’ unable to enjoy the fruits of their labor. And, they must stand by and watch us go about our own everyday mundane activities, looking on, wishing that our ‘normal’ could be their ‘normal.’ I struggle with how they must feel about all that passes by them every day knowing that it all seems just out of reach.

Let’s do more.

Somewhere close to where you live there are Wounded Warriors watching you lead a life they defended but are personally excluded from. Money is good and will definitely help. The professionals who have made it their career to help can do greater things with a larger budget. But what will be far more rewarding, for them as well as you, is some time. Stop by. Say hello, thanks, and wish them well. Ask what you might do to help. Include them in your lives. I am a writer. So I stop by to help those who write - write better. As rewarding as this has been to watch a very talented Vet turn the smallest of suggestions into a nuanced, artistic use of point-of-view techniques, seeing his fellow residents jump up at the sight of my car to make sure Mike knows I’ve arrived is equally special.

We are all in this together. A Community of Excellence demands that we strive for all to receive what they have earned. Somewhere close to where you live there are neighbors who exist just beyond the fringe. And without help from you, they might well stay there. I recommend that you look on them as an opportunity. They offer you a chance to sacrifice for them. Perhaps you can take some time that you might have spent watching Wheel of Fortune and pay it back to someone who sacrificed so much more for you.

They’ve earned it.