Veterans Day should celebrate peace, not wars based on lies

Before another Armistice Day (aka Veterans Day) approaches, perhaps it would be appropriate to consider that before being replaced with Veterans Day, Armistice Day was a day set aside to honor peace, instead of a day glorifying all things military, absurd nationalism and the worship of heroes, while working to create more heroes willing to fight, kill and die in endless wars based on lies.

If people were really sincere in their appreciation of veterans, they should probably work to prevent the creation of more veterans, help those veterans who are homeless and disenfranchised, and more important, work towards peace and the end of war.

Veterans For Peace calls for the observance of November 11 to be in keeping with the holiday’s original intent as Armistice Day, to be “a day dedicated to the cause of world peace,” as it was celebrated at the ending of World War I when the world came together to recognize the need for lasting peace. Peace is a much better way to honor veterans like me than a day designed to recruit the next generation of soldiers we’ll have to thank for their service in yet another war.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 2:31 PM with the headline "Veterans Day should celebrate peace, not wars based on lies."