With Gratitude

Veteran's day this past week started me thinking about a number of things. I cannot think about veterans without remembering my two grandfathers, one a veteran of World Ward II and the other a member of a K-9 unit in Germany during the Korean War. I've tried to understand the magnitude of their service. I think of my missionary service, years of my prime given to a worthy cause, but its not the same. Their service wasn't giving up years in the blossom of youth to share a glorious message, it was hard fought years of sorrow and pain, years of their lives that would continue on as burdensome memories. While my friends came back from missionary service with joy, their friends were joyous to be alive. Some friends never came home again. What they gave, I cannot conceive, but what I can do to honor them, I must know and do.

Do we honor veterans properly, with dignity in equal magnitude to the sacrifice they gave? I would say that we, as a society, do not. Consider the violence that fills our screens. Did they sacrifice their youth in living hell so we could enjoy the very cause of their suffering as entertainment? Is it honorable and decent to play video games where war is depicted as a game, a "game" in real life some don't survive and others come home amputated, crippled, and mentally scarred? Yes, veterans certainly served to protect our rights, including the those of speech which includes the ability to make violent entertainment. But don't be mistaken, just because it can legally occur doesn't make it good or worthy. I'm opposed to censorship in most forms, including that of violent entertainment. I'd rather see such base forms of amusement driven out by market forces, by a collective group of grateful citizens who will remember with gratitude the incalculable service of veterans and who will say, "If we honor veterans by filling our minds with violence, we do not honor at all!"