Veteran's Day

I know that this is not strictly a bookish post, but I felt like it was important for me to say.

I am a pacifist. And hard core. I have always said that arguments are best solved with words, not violence. However, my boyfriend and I have had arguments about this recently. He says "Might makes right," and I haven't yet come up with an argument that trumps that. There are some people that are just not open to negotiation. It takes two to come to an agreement. My views about are mostly not changed, but I'm recognizing that there are some cases in which nothing short of violence works.

I have usually viewed veterans with respect, but somewhat of a negative attitude. I don't often feel that they fight for me, the military is misused by the government(not the service members' faults), and so forth. As I have said to people in the past, I don't support the cause the troops are currently fighting for in Iraq, but I definitely support the troops.

I've been substitute teaching at a middle school for a few days now. Today, they had students bring a veteran for lunch and an assembly honoring the veterans. The assembly really changed my attitude about veterans. They had students and staff stand while they played the songs for each branch of the military. I stood for my cousin who was in the Navy, my cousin who was in the Army Reserves, and for my grandfathers whose branches I don't know.

Doing that made Veteran's Day personal for me. I love my cousins and my grandfathers fiercely. I believe that they deserve to be honored for their service in the military. No one else's family member deserves any less.

So, in the name of Fred Sweet, Jim Underwood, Nicholas McCoy, and Matt Delavega, I honor all who have served in the military this veteran's day.