The true meaning of Veterans Day

BY ADAM LUECK
Guest Writer

Veterans Day is a day for honoring those who have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Whether they were involved in war, helped with natural disasters or helped to keep peace around the world, they DESERVE our appreciation. Throughout the country, memorials took place honoring these men and women.

These memorials took place at city parks, state capitals and even college campuses around the country. However, no such memorial took place on our campus. As a person with several close friends that are currently serving in the Army National Guard, a grandfather with roughly 42 years of service, and an uncle currently serving his second term in Iraq, I was greatly offended that we had no type of memorial to honor these great men and women, or at least one that was advertised to students across campus here at Saint Mary’s University.

On our campus, we have a memorial dedicated to men and women who have been involved in the military who have also been students here at Saint Mary’s. This is a great way to honor them; however, on this day, these people DESERVE more. This is the one day out of the year that is dedicated to these brave people. When I was told by a very good friend of mine, who currently is a member of the Minnesota National Guard and a student here at SMU, that we would not be holding a memorial for our nation’s veterans, it made me very disappointed with our school. I was disappointed that our students and staff couldn’t take a few minutes out of this day to honor the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our country. I realize that many people on our campus do not agree with the current conflicts that our country is currently involved in, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take the time to honor what these people are willing to do.

The goal of this letter isn’t to strike down views or actions around our campus, but rather to properly say Thank You to the students, staff and all of the others out there who have served and who are currently serving our country. I wish that there was more that I could say to express how much we all greatly appreciate everything that you do, but for now, I will just say thank you and God bless.