“Thank you for your service.” Five simple words that conveys a universe of gratitude and indebtedness. People like to say that phrase quite a bit, it is a reflex action, a procedure that their minds kick into gear automatically. Especially on a day like today and Memorial Day. I see it on the social media, I hear it on the streets.
We hope that these five simple words conveys our gratitude, and
our feelings for those who willingly give of themselves and step up to the void
to take responsibility for protecting our society and defending the wellbeing
of their fellow citizens. We have a volunteer
military in this nation, which means that our citizenry will take care of those who willingly put their lives in harm’s
way; we, the grateful nation, must and will always keep that promise to take
care of them and their families during and after their service to us. We
promise to take care of them when they are ailing from any affliction visited
upon their minds, bodies, and souls. This is a solemn promise we the citizens
of this country make to the men and women who risks so much for the society and
its citizenry.
Please realize that I am not casting aspersions on those who
reflexively say those words. I do believe that those five words slip through
our tongues much too easily, that we speak them without thinking and committing
our hearts to saying those words every single time we say them. I am very sure most
people who say those five words say them with heartfelt and true gratitude in
their hearts, and the words are imbued with meaning. Yet there are many who say
those same five words with different intent and lack of meaning, these are
people who feel that they need to say those five words, they feel that society expect
them to say it.
I am especially cynical when those five words come out of
the mouths of politicians: politicians who wrap themselves in the flag,
politicians who will march in front of a marching band pretending to be leading
the parade, politicians who are adept at speaking out of both sides of their
mouths. I cannot read the hearts of everyone who mouths those five words, but I
am pretty sure most of the politicians don’t mean what they say and don’t say
what they mean. They are the ones who incessantly mouth those words to appear loyal
and patriotic to the uncynical eyes. They need to project a mirage of fealty to
those who serve our society. They are projecting a vision, a patriotism because
it is a big part of being a politician who needs to be elected. Do they really
care in their hearts? I do not know. By no means is this a partisan divide. It
is bipartisan: people who are both sides on the divide can be equally insincere
in saying the five words.
I have let the politicians color my perspective on those
five simple words. It is a shame. I am not happy that I have become so cynical about
the people saying those five words. I am very sure those who are the recipient
of those five simple words appreciate the gesture, no matter the sincerity
behind the gesture, although I have read that some veterans are not all that
keen on having those words directed at them all the time. Their reason for not
being so excited? It is that even though we have made promises to them: they offer
up their minds, bodies, and souls and we promise to take care of them during
and after their service, we have not met our end of the bargain.
We treat retired veterans as an afterthought, we treat them
as an issue that comes up on our radar only when we are called out for our
mistreatment or every four years during the election cycle. Why are the VA
hospitals even in the news for dereliction of care? Why are there homeless
veterans begging in the streets? Why are there veterans lost in the haze of PTSD?
Why do we allow our veterans waste their
GI bill benefits attending for-profit diploma mills? Why are we not taking care
of them like they expected? Like we promised? Why are so many veterans
committing suicides daily because of war trauma? Why?
Saying the five words are just not enough, we are lying
through our teeth to those that we verbally salute because we are writing
checks with our mouths that our action never cash.
What can we do about it? Do something. Act rather than let
those five attractive words just roll off your tongue. Vote for somebody who is going to change the
Veterans Affairs administration. Treat a veteran to a meal, to a coffee, to a
beer, to a shot of whisky. Do something.
Next time you see a homeless veteran on the streets destitute
and sleeping on park benches, take care of them for that moment. If it is a
meal that they need, buy them a meal. If it is help that they need, help them. Rather than mouthing platitudes
that are trite and cliched, do something.
Action speaks louder than words. Those five simple words are very easy to say
because no commitment from the speaker is involved. It is easy to say the five
words and NOT lean in and step up to the responsibility, it involves just moving
our lips.
I have gotten to the point where it does not matter how
sincere you are in your heart, it matters what you do, what actions you take to
demonstrates those words. You must earn the right to say: “Thank you for your
service”.
