By SFC Brock Jones
We just remembered Veterans Day, another invention (of sorts) that finds its roots in the Great War, which officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919. Hostilities, however, were said to have ceased months earlier on Nov. 11, 1918, when, in the 11th hour of that day, an armistice went into effect. Through a series of events and passing of various pieces of legislation, November 11 became the official day to remember all who have served in the armed forces.
Passed in 1968, the misguided (in my mind at least) Uniform Holiday Bill was passed, ensuring federal employees were given three-day weekends throughout the year by celebrating Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Columbus Day each on a Monday. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website, this change was made with the "thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production" (Many states did not agree with the idea and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates). A few years later, President Ford signed a law returning Veterans Day observance back to its original November 11 date, and a few years after that, Veterans Day was again officially celebrated on the 11th, without regard to whose holiday weekends may have been cut short.
These days, many vets, myself included, "celebrate" Veteran's Day by taking part in the offers of free meals or discounts on any number of services and goods. The list of free stuff that a vet can get in Salt Lake alone is quite extensive. Last year I enjoyed a free lunch at Chili's in Salt Lake City and, being a student at the time, enjoyed the opportunity to have something for lunch other than a Cup 'O Noodles. The food tasted great and I walked out, full and genuinely thankful, to catch the Trax back up the U.
The problem, as I see it, with this way of celebrating Veterans Day, which was also embodied in the impetus behind the Uniform Holiday Bill, is that it's very easy to begin to see these discounts and freebies as something we are selfishly entitled to. Men and women who have served and continue to serve certainly deserve recognition for doing so, but none of us are entitled to anything other than the contractual benefits Uncle Sam has promised us. Outside of that, no one owes us anything.
So please, enjoy your free lunches and dinners and oil changes and all the rest, but do so without letting entitlement and ingratitude take over, remembering that though we are all entitled to life and freedom and the opportunity to seek happiness, not one of us is guaranteed free chicken fajitas.
 |
| A color guard of Airmen stands at the ready prior to the start of a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2014. |
We just remembered Veterans Day, another invention (of sorts) that finds its roots in the Great War, which officially ended with the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919. Hostilities, however, were said to have ceased months earlier on Nov. 11, 1918, when, in the 11th hour of that day, an armistice went into effect. Through a series of events and passing of various pieces of legislation, November 11 became the official day to remember all who have served in the armed forces.
Passed in 1968, the misguided (in my mind at least) Uniform Holiday Bill was passed, ensuring federal employees were given three-day weekends throughout the year by celebrating Washington's birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Columbus Day each on a Monday. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website, this change was made with the "thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production" (Many states did not agree with the idea and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates). A few years later, President Ford signed a law returning Veterans Day observance back to its original November 11 date, and a few years after that, Veterans Day was again officially celebrated on the 11th, without regard to whose holiday weekends may have been cut short.
These days, many vets, myself included, "celebrate" Veteran's Day by taking part in the offers of free meals or discounts on any number of services and goods. The list of free stuff that a vet can get in Salt Lake alone is quite extensive. Last year I enjoyed a free lunch at Chili's in Salt Lake City and, being a student at the time, enjoyed the opportunity to have something for lunch other than a Cup 'O Noodles. The food tasted great and I walked out, full and genuinely thankful, to catch the Trax back up the U.The problem, as I see it, with this way of celebrating Veterans Day, which was also embodied in the impetus behind the Uniform Holiday Bill, is that it's very easy to begin to see these discounts and freebies as something we are selfishly entitled to. Men and women who have served and continue to serve certainly deserve recognition for doing so, but none of us are entitled to anything other than the contractual benefits Uncle Sam has promised us. Outside of that, no one owes us anything.
So please, enjoy your free lunches and dinners and oil changes and all the rest, but do so without letting entitlement and ingratitude take over, remembering that though we are all entitled to life and freedom and the opportunity to seek happiness, not one of us is guaranteed free chicken fajitas.
No comments:
Post a Comment