11/11: Honoring Those Who Have Served Our Country

By Angela Javaid

Staff Writer

The month of November is not just a time to celebrate Thanksgiving, but it is also a time to honor all veterans who have served and are currently serving our country. This year, Veterans Day was on Tuesday, November 11th, when students received a day off in honor of the service that veterans have provided to our country. But what exactly is a veteran? According to congress.gov, “By statute, a veteran is defined as a 'person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable." In addition, sophomore Meredith Valladares shares that a veteran is “someone who sacrificed themselves for a country.” Let’s explore what some of our SOAR students and teachers have shared about Veterans Day.

So what is the significance of Veterans Day? English and AVID teacher Mr. Tilton believes that the day "is a good opportunity to remember that there are people here in the U.S who have gone through a lot of things, as they are in the military.” He states that it’s not easy to go through the experiences that they have been in. That is why it’s important to have a day dedicated to honoring veterans for how hard they work to serve our country. Additionally, he shares that this day also “promotes their healing journey as they kind of reintegrate into the society they’ve experienced." 

Meredith Valladares shares a similar opinion. She states that the day “is important because we get to admire and know the people who fought for a country.”

Now, what do the terms “service” and "sacrifice" actually mean? Google states that service is ‘the act of helping or doing work for someone’ while sacrifice is ‘an act of giving up something valued.’ Opinionwise, Freshman ASB Vice President Kyrah Gordon shares that the service is about “putting yourself out there to help others around you and not just doing things for you, but doing it for other people.” She states that sacrifice is similar to service in the concept of “putting others above yourself.” 

On the other hand, ASB Advisor Mrs. Jobb believes that service is about "giving someone your abilities, and you are helping them of your own free will,” while sacrifice is “when you are giving so much that you know it may hurt you,” but you are willing to do so despite this fact. Basically, when you are giving service, you are helping them because you want to. When you are making sacrifices, you are willing to benefit others even though it hurts you. These two terms are related as they both involve helping others, but sacrifice involves more pain than service.

What are some lessons we can learn from veterans? Mr. Tilton shares that we can learn the skill of teamwork from them. Even though you may be “working with people who might be different than you, come from different backgrounds [and] different locations,” you should acknowledge the fact that all of you are on the same side. 

Mrs. Jobb states that veterans don’t just state their “ideals and goals and things we believe in”, they go forward with those and take action. According to her, veterans may have to make some sacrifices, “but they know that the greater good is better, that keeping it safe is more important.” Additionally, she says that we can learn to “[support our] own ideals and [make] sure that the world looks the way we want it to look.” All in all, we should not just say what we want to accomplish, we should actually put in the work into what we want to accomplish.

Even though Veterans Day is over, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until next year to thank them! You can write them a letter telling them, “Thank you, veterans.” You can also attend a Veterans Day event as another way to thank them. Additionally, you can ask them about their service. For instance, Kyrah Gordon shares that if she came across a veteran, she would ask them about their experiences and what their favorite thing was in the military. In sum, don’t overlook our country’s veterans, as they do a lot for our country. Jeff Miller states that, “The willingness of America's veterans to sacrifice for our country has earned them our lasting gratitude.” In other words, you should be grateful for the sacrifices veterans have made and the service they have given to our country.