I bet you folks never realized that I am a Yankee. Actually, I’ve been living down here for 10 years, so you might call me a reformed Yankee, or a southerner in training!

Yes, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, (you can’t get more Yankee than that), until adulthood.

In New York City, everything is big, but who noticed when you hardly ever saw small. I clearly remember Veterans Day as a child. It scared me at first, as there were so many veteran participants in the NYC Veteran’s Day parade that I thought we were going to war! That was a long time ago when there were a lot more veterans and a lot more recognition and gratitude extended to them.

Veterans are special people. Think about this:

They were/are willing to risk, and even give their lives for the principles we hold dear

They fought/fight for people they barely knew, or knew not, often people who were not the least friendly or appreciative;

They often sacrificed lucrative professions and lived a bare subsistence life to achieve victory over evil and oppression;

They were/are often mocked and spat upon by those they sought to help;

Their sacrifices were/are often rejected by their own people;

They sometimes wind up having to pay the ultimate price for trying to help others in need and,

They were/are selfless, courageous and worthy of our admiration.

I never thought of our veterans in quite this way, have you? No folks, I’m not saying that they are the modern day equivalent of Christ, but when push came/comes to shove, they stood up for what was right, honorable, fair, and moral.

As the years pass, we will see their numbers decrease. While their passing is sad, hopefully it will be because the world has, at last, learned that there are no winners in a war.

Dan Ligotti

Blake’s Chapel Church