On Veteran’s Day it seems appropriate to post a few of my thoughts about our country and those who protect our freedom and try to help bring freedom to others around the world. Despite the many flaws within our political and economic systems, our country is still one of the great democracies of the world, providing its citizens a relatively stable and safe place to live, with many personal freedoms. This is truly a great thing, something that all U.S. citizens should be very appreciative of. However as the saying goes, “freedom isn’t free”, and I want to make sure to point out who we owe respect to for our country continuing to be a great place to live.
The true defenders of our freedoms are the veterans of the armed forces. Yes, certainly war is an ugly thing and not something to be glamorized. It is also something that you could argue could have been avoided potentially in some cases. Regardless of whether you personally agreed with every conflict our country engaged in, which is not the fault of our military, the fact is that our soldiers did not have a choice but to do their best in whatever situation they were placed. And for this reason, we need to show them the utmost respect for the many sacrifices they made to be the defenders of our freedoms and that of others. Yes, you could also argue that we shouldn’t have stepped into the conflict of others, but that is another political debate that is irrelevant to the reality of our veterans. These are real people who signed up to make sure that we could enjoy as much peace as possible within our country. And many of them did not live to enjoy the peaceful times they helped secure. That is truly unfortunate. Those of us who never had to step into the soldier’s shoes, we should always be grateful for these men and women who died in and survived these conflicts on our behalf.
Today I hope all living veterans are having a nice day off from their everyday duties and getting a chance to enjoy their freedom. I’m sure there are other soldiers who must continue to do their duty despite what day it is, and I am grateful for their vigilance. In any case, I hope we all remember to show our respect to those living and dead veterans for their role in ensuring the relatively peaceful lives we enjoy today. Hey, soldiers can only do so much to fix the many challenges we face as a society. In times of peace, it is really the responsibility of the rest of us to try to help make our society a little better as we go, in honor of those who secured this privilege for us.
I also want to make a personal remark about my father, Bill Hagins, who himself served 12 years in our Air Force. I am very proud of his service and his efforts both in and out of the military to remind everyone how lucky we truly are to be living in this country and to just be living. He has seen much tragedy and personally experienced much hardship in his military service and it reminds me that those who survived need even more of our support and love. It couldn’t have been easy and I hope that everyone thinks a little bit more about what it might have been like if you had to be in their shoes. I know I’m very grateful others were able to serve on my behalf.
Life of Brian 