Veterans Day

             I am the proud son of a fallen veteran. My dad was a pilot in the Marine Corps, and died in a training accident when I was 6 years old. As a result, Veterans day, as well as Memorial day, are emotional days for me. Yesterday was Veterans day, and I found myself thinking about some observations I have noticed over the last few Veterans days. It all started when I was out and about and noticed a few, what appeared to be Korea, Vietnam, or maybe even WWII era, veterans wearing their old uniforms proudly. It always makes me smile seeing old timers like that sporting their uniforms so proudly and receiving the respect that they have so earned. But, a thought occurred to me yesterday, are the younger veterans, or active duty service shown the same respect as the older ones? I'm not saying that the younger veterans aren't shown respect, they certainly are, but maybe just not on the same level as the WWII and Korea veterans. This is just a feeling I get when I observe people talking about active duty guys today or maybe kids that just served 4 years out of high school and then got out.

            No matter how long someone served in the military, or whether they were deployed in a war or not, they all deserve an incredible amount of respect. Because whether or not they served in a war or not, every day you serve in the military you understand you are sacrificing your life in service of this country. Take my dad for example, he didn’t die when he was deployed during a conflict in Bosnia, he died in a high risk training mission flying over the desert in Arizona. I think some people don’t realize how dangerous serving in the military is, whether we are at war or not. I think the different levels of respect for service members of this generation as opposed to WWII generations can be linked to a couple things. First, I overheard a news story about lack of sympathy for today's veterans who are injured or homeless, and the main reason that was discussed was the fact that during the world wars and Korea, there was a much higher percentage of our population that served during those wars as opposed to the Iraq and Afghanistan war. So back during the world wars a majority of people had a family member or a close friend who was in the war, as opposed to today not many of us have a close friend or family member in active duty. I mean I have friends of friends who are serving but know one I'm really close to, and I would say that’s the case for a lot of people my age. I think this could be the same reason there is a lack of sympathy towards today's service members and recently injured veterans, because most people don’t know people that experience it firsthand.

            I think this can also be a reason that older veterans are shown more respect than recent veterans. Not that older veterans don’t deserve it, because they. I would say a good majority of people my age and my mom's age have a grandparent or parent, or great aunt or uncle who served in WWII or Korea and Vietnam. So we have heard their stories firsthand, but haven't heard the stories of someone who was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Who knows, I may be way off in my observation, or I may be spot on. My point in writing this isn't to lecture or look down on people who may not have the firsthand military life experience that I do. I write this just as a simple reminder that anyone who served any time in the military deserves the same amount of respect as any other veteran. Each day is a life threatening sacrifice for those men and women.

           Thank you to all the men and women who have served our country, whether it was for one year or 20, thank you.

Late Night Poems

        Often times I find myself laying wide awake in the middle of the night. When this happens I like to write down whatever thoughts I was having while laying there. Most of the nights I'm writing random thoughts, but other nights I think of poems to write down. Here is a poem I came up with last night:

"Late at night and I cannot sleep,

Jumping alert with every peep,

Tiny lights jumping about,

I'm stuck in my mind and I can't get out.

There's a monster under my bed,

It will be there until I'm dead,

Keeping me awake on a nightly basis,

Forever stuck in a sleepless stasis.

Why oh why won't my brain shut down,

Random thoughts keep flying around,

One sheep.. two sheep.. no that’s not working,

I think I see a shadow in the corner.. lurking,

I hope soon I start resting and dreaming,

But as for now I'll just lie here screaming."

What's Wrong With People?

I try to think of myself as a guy who never lets anything get under my skin. I rarely feel any stress, and I try to see the best out of any situation in life. But, if there is one thing that I absolutely cannot stand, it's rude people. I personally think there is no excuse for treating any person you encounter in life with anything other than kindness. Is it really that hard to throw a smile in someone's direction even on your lowest of days? I think not, and I've been through my share of life shattering events. People seem to get so mad now a days and show no respect for other human beings. All the jobs I have had have been in a retail style environment where I was constantly working with customers of all types. It amazes me how worked up people will get in public over something so meaningless as why a store doesn’t carry an item anymore. If everyone just took a breath and realized there's always someone going through something worse than you, then we would live in the most wonderful of worlds. Honestly, it saddens me greatly that there will always be those people who will treat anyone and everyone like garbage. This is the world we live in, and there's nothing we can do but try and spread as much love and joy as we can.