Skip to main content

Another Holiday?

Veterans DayImage via Wikipedia
Penelope Trunk, the Brazen Careerist, went on a tear two days ago about dropping Veteran's Day for a "national service day."
I don't have a problem with the concept of a national service day, but I see little reason to eliminate Veteran's Day. 
Trunk highlights the negatives of having soldiers who have fought in wars as a reason to reject the idea of a day for recognizing veterans
The only thing she says that makes SOME sense: 
 Because what we’re doing now—celebrating military service over everything else—is teaching people that one is more valuable than the other.
And here is why she is kind of wrong. Veterans, drafted or volunteer, ARE expected to do more in service of their country. She can question why and what the impact to veterans'  lives and their families are, but the reality is:  soldiers give up their rights  in service to protect others.  Care to argue the point? Ask a gay soldier.
Finally, Trunk falls back to Obama's call from two years ago but he was specifically looking atMLK day.  Why not Memorial Day? (She may not know that one was for veterans too- nobody else seems to remember either.)
Or why not Washington's birthday or Columbus day? The better question might just be, do we have too many federal holidays?
Adding one more for something nebulous but noble such as national service makes about as much sense as taking a day off of work for... Labor day.  
Related articles
Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

Popular posts from this blog

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast  Such a fun time! 

A #New365

Well, I was sort of looking for my NEW 365daysofHappyforTodd. I found it. Today, starts a new clock towards towards the end of another year. A New Year. I'll be kind, but for those that know- please help me celebrate.  I could get all #cliche and talk about #newme #startingover #yadayadayada But, I don't want to. I just want to commemorate. Not a lot of people looked or cared about #365DaysofHappyforTodd That's okay. I was doing it for me.  I would like your best "getting through" song though- that would be cool!  Just like this #NewTodd sounds lame right? 

New Life

  It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening.  Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring.  I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now.  Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat.  I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you n...