Please Don't Thank a Vet.

by BigFrank Banned
6 replies
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Don't be thankin' veterans for their service, on Monday. While we appreciate it at some level, we're also more than a bit dismayed by it. We're still walking the face of the Earth. You wanna thank us? That's what Veterans Day is for. Memorial Day is about those that you will never get a chance to thank. They already paid the ultimate price so that you can have your burgers and your beer and get a chance to limit your thanks to a tip of your can of Bud aimed at the nearest veteran. Spare us, please.

You want to show respect and appreciation for veterans? Grab yourself a foot high American flag and take a drive to the nearest veteran's cemetery and plant it on the grave of someone who's family you've never met. If you're into such things, say a small prayer for their soul and try to imagine, if they fell in combat, what the final moments of their life must have been like and what they were thinking about as they took their final breath.

Not that we're not appreciative at being thanked, but it's misplaced. Most of us don't feel the need to be thanked and are actually made to feel quite uncomfortable by it. Most of us feel that the pleasure and the honor of having served is distinctly ours and we ask nothing in return other than the VA living up to the promise that America made, on your behalf, to take care of us upon our return. That's how you can show your appreciation to a veteran. Call your elected officials and tell them to do the right thing by us, irrespective of your political persuasion.

While it's nice that we get to party and celebrate our nation's freedoms in the company of family and friends, that's why god invented the 4th of July. That's the day our forefathers deemed the appropriate day to honor our nation's liberties, with parades, festivities, pomp, explosions and majesty. Memorial Day is about honoring the fallen, with a touch of solemnity and reverence. That shouldn't be too much to ask of any true, self-described "patriot."

Thanks for listening, whether you ultimately agree with me, or not - the fact of which I couldn't care less! If I get one person to reflect on my position, for a single moment, then - "mission accomplished."

Cheers. - Frank

P.S. I'm not sayin' we shouldn't be partyin'. Just that we should take a few minutes to quietly remember those that have paid the ultimate price, so that we may have the luxury of doing so.
(Quietly steps off soapbox).

P.P.S. Oh - don't forget that approximately 22 veterans will commit suicide on Memorial Day and every other day this year. God bless, America.
  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Thanks for the post Frank. Personally, I love this country and I am very grateful, but also humbled by the sacrifice made by those who have fought for this country and died and those who did not die, but will never really forget the horror.

    Without that sacrifice, this country would not be what it is. So, thanks Frank whether you want to be thanked or not. The others don't hear me.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Ok, I wont ... not verbally anyway.

    For the last 8 years I do "Wounded Warrior Project" collections at this time of year.
    I have personally ( as in ME ... not anyone who works for me ) collected over 250k.

    THAT ... is what I think of you guys. That is how I thank you and ... the fallen.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Stewart
    Well said, Frank.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      I came to read a rant about animal veterinarians.

      Instead I read a very nice, very humble and rather moving post from someone more than qualified to post about it.

      Thank you.
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      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

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