I’m part of America’s extended military family.
My dad’s older brother was career Navy; my dad served in the Navy in World War II; various and sundry cousins served in the Navy, Marines and SeaBees. My first husband fought in Vietnam on a Navy ship. My current husband’s dad was career Air Force and is a veteran of Korea and Vietnam. A friend is a veteran of both Iraq wars. Other friends have children who are Afghanistan/Iraq war vets.
But I feel as though I am part of a shrinking population.
Stop for a moment and think about how pervasively WWII permeated society compared to the past 14 years of war.
No deprivation for citizens during modern days of war.
Well, there’s one exception: the Wall Street provoked Great Recession. Of course, it had nothing to do with Iraq/Afghanistan wars and everything to do with greed, stupidity, and abysmal regulatory oversight. And gas prices went through the roof for a while, but that wasn’t Iraq/Afghanistan war-related, either.
On the other hand, my mother couldn’t buy a bicycle to ride to work at Bob’s Candy Co. in Albany, Georgia. That is, not until her employer gave her a chit (war coupon) for the bike. That’s because it was made of metal, and metal had been diverted to the war effort.
From the start of WWII until September 2, 1945, 1-in-11 US citizens (12,209,238 Americans) were in military service. This translates to about 1-in-6 men (probably). A far greater percentage were “at war” if we restrict ourselves to the eligible-to-fight age range.
There is truth to the adage, “out of sight, out of mind.”
Last year, news reports estimated 2.5 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s fewer than 1-in-100 Americans based on our 2014 total population. Not adults. Not “war-age” adults. ALL citizens.
We, the people, are emotionally, physically, and financially disconnected from wars fought (ostensibly) in our name.
For most of us, these wars are out of sight.
This is emphatically true for our “war against terror” (see the recent Congressional budget vote that does not close Guantanamo), pervasive government and commercial invasions of privacy (geolocation, warrantless wiretaps, video cameras on street corners), and high-tech warfare (killing drones).
Two more domestic “war” examples: our internal “war on drugs” and systemic racial profiling within our legal system.
We need to recognize that domestic “wars” are socially corrosive, detrimental to democracy, and quite often also out of sight, out of mind.
We honor symbols of war, not peace.
In 1938, Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt made 11 November a holiday: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.” Today we have given short shrift to the idea of peace and tranquility.
November 11 should be more than a day to honor those who are serving in uniform. For most of us, this is a day just like any other given that Veterans Day is not a universal holiday like New Year’s Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving or Christmas. [Ironically, it is Memorial Day, with roots in the Civil War, that has been celebrated as a universal national holiday since 1971.]
November 11 should be more than Remembrance Day, which is observed around the world to memorialize the end of hostilities of World War I on November 11, 1918.
November 11 needs to be Awareness (or Wake Up!) Day.
That is the only way we can forestall acts of aggression — whether domestic or foreign, armed or economic — that are carried out in our names.
:: Edited to clarify that my father-in-law is alive.
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Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com