Let’s make EVERY day “Thank a Veteran Day”
Our country’s history fascinates the daylights out of me. Trust and Relationships were critical for survival back when our country was just beginning. Having a source for fresh water, food, medicine, protection, learning (or acquiring specific skill sets), and currency (or more likely items you could trade with) all played a role in a person’s day to day survival. Seems like most of us today never think about how much access we have to multiple sources for fresh water, food, medical care, protection, learning opportunities, and wealth building. We just wake up each day and accept them all as a given without considering all the people that make them accessible and the people behind making our life so simple and convenient.
I first gained significant interest in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address while I was reading the book “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. Lincoln was in Gettysburg November 19, 1863 to dedicate a cemetery which he called “an ugly reality of war” where over 3,500 union soldiers had been buried following the battle that took place there. For years now, I have returned to reading Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on a regular basis. Why? Because I feel drawn, inspired, and motivated by its message and the hope it provides. Hope that makes me feel grateful for every person that’s played a role in defending our country.
And now, since I’ve read it so many times, I also have a greater appreciation for anyone connected with law enforcement, firefighting, everyone connected to providing health care, teachers, hospitality workers, and well…literally every person I encounter each day because I’m able to tie back what each person does as having value to completing the great task laid in front of us by Lincoln’s address. Mainly, —that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion… well…it might help if you just read the whole address yourself. It’s short but powerful, and I hope has a similar impact on you as it does for me. Here it is.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Please note, there is not a single motivation for ANY current political movement in what I write today. My real motivation for writing this article today is inspire people to recognize the value of the contribution every current and former member of the armed forces brings to our current quality of life. Better yet, what if we were ALL inspired to recognize the value that every citizen of our country makes to our current quality of life? What if we made every day “Thank a Fellow Citizen Day!” Is there any downside to that kind of a mentality? I’m not aware of any.
Since trust and relationships remain critical for success in life still today, wouldn’t thanking others for the role they play in our society help build trust and nurture relationships? Wouldn’t it help make each of us feel appreciated, respected, and loved if several people thanked us each day? Each of us crave those three things every day and having others thank us for our role would help each of us define our purpose in life.
So, I’m asking. Read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address one more time and then perform your own experiment telling everyone you encounter “thank you.” When they respond with “for what,” you can simply reply with “the contribution you make to our country with what you do each day.” Then pause for a second and assess how that made YOU feel and how it made THE PERSON YOU SAID IT TO feel (hint: if said with sincerity, it always ends up a win/win). Pretend that EVERY day is thank a Veteran (or fellow citizen) Day. Don’t over-analyze, just do it! And remember, Hey…I Believe In YOU! GiddyUp!