First News of Peace! Confetti thrown by happy crowds. Liberty sings. Flags waved. Nov. 11-1918.
(Image by Library Company of Philadelphia) Details DMCA
There's some things that come to mind this Veterans Day.
To those unaware of its inception, it's a day first commemorated as Armistice Day in 1918 at the signing of armistice with Germany ending WWI. A day to herald peace in the world after the carnage of "the war to end all wars".
It was meant to honor the dead that had fallen in the war but also with the admonition there be no more war.
But obviously, with our involvement in WWII and Korea , Armistice Day didn't quite fit any longer. The veterans of WWI were mostly forgotten by then and there were veterans of our other more recent wars so it was changed to Veterans Day in 1954. Even then it was no longer to commemorate the idea of no more war but rather fly the flag and honor the dead. And today it's meant to extol our military as "heroes" in our "global force for good"-though I seriously doubt many veterans who were drafted and fought in the Vietnam War see our military today as a "global force for good".
Really, the guys (now also women) who actually fought and killed others in our wars hardly see themselves as "heroes".
That "heroism" is something concocted by the government that sends them off to war, then "bought" into by most people who whoop and holler when they see soldiers in airports or they're asked to stand up between innings at major league baseball games, spot light turned and given a standing ovation by the crowd, with those cheering absolving themselves of guilt for their not serving.
Today, there's no longer protests and demonstrations against our wars even as Obama authorizes and sends off 50 special ops troops to Syria that we saw boarding a military transport some 10 days ago.
Of course it's illegal. The UN Security Council didn't authorize it. Certainly the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad didn't request it. Plus the authorization to use military force (AUMF) Congress gave to "Dubya" Bush to go after al Qaeda in 2001 certainly isn't valid considering Islamic State (IS)-the crowd we've been bombing in Syria- didn't even exist at the time.
So today many people will fly the flag. Obama will presumably be at Arlington Cemetery and other politicos will orate and extol our "heroes".
Too bad the "oratory" won't be for the old Armistice Day admonition there be no more war.
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