It took less than 30 days for daily updates from the war in Iraq to fall off the front page of our city’s daily newspaper when the battles began there in March, 2003.
We lived nowhere near a military base. Deployments, IEDs, death was not in our regular lexicon. The beat of daily life continued unhindered for most people in the area. But for military families around nation, the next decade would alter their lives forever.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the towns that border military bases.
At Fort Bragg, handicapped spots at stores are filled by vehicles marked with disabled veteran license plates. The men and women sliding from these vehicles are in their 20s and 30s. They are missing limbs. They are moving with the aid of canes and wheelchairs.
Many businesses, on and off base, have parking spots designated for gold star families – those who have lost a soldier in battle. These spots are usually full.
In the pickup line at our local elementary school it is easy to spot the three, yes three at one small school, cars decorated with the scars of battle and a daddies lost to war. These cars bare gold star stickers and a photo of each man, smiling in uniform with the dates of their births and deaths etched in the vehicles’ back glass.
War is not what is used to be. When America’s warriors are away and struggling to survive, the rest of America meanwhile continues to live unhindered, unworried. They know the details of the upcoming Kardashian wedding but have no idea about the struggles and hardships that the warriors face who keep them safe every night.
There are no victory gardens. Nightly news updates are snippets of information that most people skip. The idea that we are all working together against a common enemy does not exist. Our warriors are taking care of that, the rest of America is on vacation.
For at least one day, please, stop and consider the enormous sacrifices of our military families.
Today is not about barbecues or heading out on vacation or breathing a sigh of relief because you can finally, stylishly wear white.
Today is about pausing to remember and thank the men and women who have died so that you may live.
It is hard in a nation where often there seems to be plentiful food, water and freedom to imagine that life could be any other way. It is hard to imagine that the wars, kidnapping and daily attacks that happen in other countries could be a reality here.
But our military, for hundreds of years, has kept that nightmare away. And they have paid for us to have that security, with their lives.
Today, consider the air you breath, the giant smorgasbord of food, family and fun that is laid out before you to celebrate this national holiday, consider the very land you stand upon and realize none of it would be possible if not for the men and women lying still under it.
Pause and thank them.
