As you well know, today is Veterans Day, a holiday that honors and celebrates all the people who have served in the military and thus have effectively preserved our own freedoms and repelled the never-ending attempts to suppress and destroy our country. The holiday is celebrated in most of the Western countries as well as the British Commonwealth nations. In some places it is known as Remembrance Day and others retain the original Armistice Day.
It began as a commemoration of the end of the First World War which was supposed the be “the war to end all wars.” It was so costly and horrible (for its time) that people honestly believed that the experience of it would preclude there from ever being another war again. The Armistice that was signed between the warring countries was signed on November 11, 1918, and it was decided that the ceremonial signatures would be placed at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the day.
When I was a very small boy, schools were not closed for the myriad of holidays that they are now, and we had classes on Armistice Day. But it was common practice that, following a lesson from our teachers about the importance of the Armistice, we would all stop what we were doing and stand silently by our desks, offering a moment of prayer and reflection at exactly 11:11 am. It was not only in the schools, either. In most communities people would pause wherever they happened to be at that moment and do the same. It was not at all unusual to see cars pull over and stop while the occupants got out, stood next to them and offered their prayers as well.
Armistice Day was created to honor all of the veterans of WWI, but in 1954 the U. S. Congress passed a law that changed the name to Veterans Day and the focus on giving thanks and appreciation to the military veterans from all generations and conflicts. Nowadays people don’t give it a thought, they just go shopping. But we haven’t forgotten and the Firegeezer family extends a heartfelt “thank you” to everybody who has worn the uniform in the defense of freedom.
Veterans Day Tribute – More amazing videos are a click away
We had better get this equipment checked out now. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of coffee.
