Veteran’s Day is not political. It’s a day to remember and honor those among us who joined the Armed Forces and served our country protecting our freedoms at home and abroad. Yet, Veteran’s Day does fall in election season and this year is a whopper of an election. These two days have always been linked for me.
I registered to vote the moment I could and have never missed even a school board election. For me, voting is one of the highest responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States of America. I have been aware since I was a small child that the reason I have the freedom to vote in my country is because of veterans.
My family has fought in every war since the American Revolution and my husband served in the Marines. I documented all this during my research to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. My grandfather and great-uncles fought in WW2. My dad was in the Army, my cousin was career air force, and my NextGen cousins are, or have, served in the Air Force and Marines.
I have two great-aunts who were German war brides and made their new life here in America with my great-uncles. Living under the Nazi regime and through the war, they knew a bit about what not having basic freedoms looked like. Our connection to military service and the sacrifices made on our behalf has always been front of mind in our family. And, with that connection to the military has been our connection to voting.
I’ll never forget a time in graduate school when someone very casually and dismissively said they weren’t voting. I was dumbfounded. How could that be?
In my own ethos, voting is so important, so much a fundamental duty that it never occurred to me that anyone could feel differently. That voting wouldn’t be a sort of sacred responsibility to our ancestors from the past and to our country now never occurred to me. How could someone not vote? How could anyone not honor our ancestor veterans, and our veterans now, who sacrificed so much for us so we can live in a free country? Voting is such an easy thing to do compared to what it took to get that right.
Other than not voting, littering is my other pet peeve and barometer of one's personality. I remember thinking then that this person who didn’t vote must be a litterer, too. Littering is one of those baseline behaviors that gives insight into the character of a person. A litterer is selfish. Not voting is selfish. Littering shows you that the person cares not for the community or country. Voting is as fundamental a contribution to your country and community as keeping it clean is. Maybe it is too harsh a judgment, but I don’t think so.
Don’t throw your vote out. Pick it up and use it wisely. Make it count. Honor all the veterans throughout the history of our country who fought for your right to do it. Not everyone gets the chance to have what we have here in America.