Veteran's Day

If you live in the US, you are familiar with how around holidays, there are special seasonal items that show up in the stores. The big obvious ones include Halloween, Thanksgiving/Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and the 4th of July. Slightly less obvious are days like Superbowl Sunday (repackaging of nearly all snack food with NFL logos, deli platters, beer), Labor Day (BBQ blitz), Mother's Day (potted plants, boxes of candy, toiletry/bath gift boxes), Father's Day (somewhat neglected but the occasional shaving kit/electric shaver, tool boxes, various gadgetry with "For Dad!" on or near the package) , Memorial Day (BBQ, miniflags, cemetary boxes), and Veteran's Day.

What do we have for Veteran's Day?
I noticed something disturbing this past week when I was grocery shopping. Apparently we have cemetary boxes for Veteran's Day. Seeing this on my way into the supermarket struck a chilly tone for me. I started thinking about it. What is our consumer culture equivalent of the mother's day box o'chocolates or the 4th of July fire crackers for Veteran's Day? I couldn't think of much. I vaguely remembered old men with VFW gear handing out artificial poppies for donations outside stores when I was a kid. Parades in some towns. Wreaths and other decorations for graves.

I realized it is all about death and rememberance for fallen soldiers. "Isn't that what Memorial Day is for?", I thought. So what is Veteran's Day supposed to be for? I looked up the history, and it seems the two holidays arose out of a desire to mark remembrance for service in two different wars. Both were expanded to include all military, not just those who served in either the US Civil War or WWII. The distinction in modern celebration seems to be that the former (Memorial Day) is specifically meant to recall and honor the dead, while the latter is meant to include honor for the living as well. At least that is what it's supposed to be for. And yet on Veteran's Day, what do I see? Cemetary decorations and poppies. Given how Veteran's Day is currently marked, I can't shake the feeling that our society feels the only good veteran a dead one.

I think we need some new stuff. I want to see evidence that our society, in all it's commercial glory, is embracing the living as well as the dead. Toward that goal, I propose the following:

• No matter where you work, if you are veteran, you should get the day off. If you served in the military at all (war or peace time) you should get the day off or should get paid time and a half for the day. If you saw combat, you get the fucking week off, paid. And no one else does (maybe immediate families do but that's all). That way, you can really enjoy your day/week off by watching the other slobs go to work.
• Buy one get one sales only for people who display a military ID or discharge papers.
• A tradition of veteran's dinners. Communal dinners would be held at local VFW halls, churches, and schools. Restaurants would be encouraged to offer free meals to veterans and their families or to host a veteran's only dinner.

I don't support the current war, and in general I agree with the sentiment that "All war represents a failure of diplomacy". But while we find it necessary to employ a "standing army", and while we as a society do not take measures to ensure equal economic and social status for all of our citizens and residents thereby narrowing the choices for many people so as to make the notion of military service a more "enticing" option (e.g., military or no college), I believe we have an obligation to at least show respect for the service of military personnel, living and dead. I am not what you'd call a super patriot, hell by today's standards I'm not even patriotic. But I find it disturbing that the masses of super patriots out there will collectively protest speaking engagements by Professor Churchill, will gather to demostrate against and denigrate peace activist Cindy Sheehan, but on Veteran's Day where are they? They are not rallying outside statehouses nationwide for increased veterans' benefits or camped out on the lawns of bosses who fire employees who take time off to say goodbye to a spouse leaving for Iraq. Maybe they are buying cemetary boxes for all the good, dead soldiers.