Letter: Veterans deserve our recognition

This campaign season we heard much about building unity and a community of hope. With this rising sentiment in a historic election, I humbly remark that our citizens already have these community organizers in place.

I urge my fellow citizens to begin building our unity by celebrating and recognizing our soldiers on Veterans Day.

Veterans are not a political symbol, but are the standing symbol in our society of the best that freedom has to offer; voluntary service to our country and the protection of its citizens with disregard to race, religion, income or cultural heritage.

The men and women who’ve served us deserve a day of acknowledgment in all schools and public squares.

As a parent of a kindergartener at Footprints Academy, it was a pleasure to witness a wonderful exchange between two veterans and the students.

Mr. Chuck Deaver of the Woodbury VFW and Mr. Tony Zerwas of the National Guard explained that serving one’s country can be a calling, and in a gentle and engaging way, they answered questions about their responsibilities in war and peace.

They avoided politics, instead focusing on the importance of their duty to the citizenry of this great country. I applaud these men for serving us yet again in educating our youth on how special our armed services are in this society.

I also applaud Footprints Academy for a nice program where kids said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the National Anthem and America the Beautiful, read the President’s proclamation, and presented written poems and gifts to the veterans.

However, the most touching part was when the men led us in a flag raising ceremony in reverential silence.

Sharing in such programs naturally brings unity and looking into a veteran’s eyes brings real hope that speaks to past, present and future America.

Marisa Novak

Woodbury

Tags: opinion, woodbury, letter, novak, veterans, footprints