On June 1, 1954, Congress passed a law which officially changed the annual November 11 holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. The Korean War had ended less than a year earlier, and according to President Eisenhower’s Proclamation 3071, Congress changed the name of the holiday “in order that a grateful Nation might pay homage to the veterans of all its wars who have contributed so much to the preservation of this Nation.”
Holidays are important events for society. They not only commemorate significant events in history, they also indicate what society’s values are. So for example, Thanksgiving Day is about far more than the Wampanoag Indians rescuing a few Pilgrims from starvation. Rather, Americans take the opportunity to reflect on the many things for which we can be grateful. Likewise, Martin Luther King Day is not just a celebration of the man’s life, but also of the values which he symbolizes: racial tolerance, equal opportunity, and brotherhood across ethnic lines.
These holidays also provide opportunities for learning. By observing them, we show new members of American society (children and immigrants) that we place a high value on those things that we celebrate: an attitude of thanksgiving, our national independence, the memory of those who have died in the armed services, etc., etc. Holidays also subconsciously reinforce those values for the rest of us.
Surely, it is a good thing to pay tribute to those brave men and women who honestly place their lives at risk to protect our safety and our freedom. However, when Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, it set the Law of Unintended Consequences into motion.
You see, Armistice Day celebrated the end of a war. In fact, it was the only holiday we had that was dedicated to peace. We have several holidays to celebrate our soldiers: Memorial Day, Independence Day, even Pearl Harbor Day (which is always recognized in the news media, even though it is not a legal holiday). But when Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, it denied Americans of our only holiday devoted to peace.
Of course, this was not Congress’s intent. In fact, Eisenhower’s proclamation urges us to “reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts [i.e., those of the fallen soldiers] shall not have been in vain.” However, with the passage of time, the idea of peace has faded from our public ceremonies. When was the last time Cindy Sheehan or Howard Zinn was invited to speak at City Hall on Veterans Day? How would the crowd react if the Boston Pops played “Give Peace a Chance” or “Peace Train” at the park? And yet, that would not be out of character with the original legislation at all.
It’s like those bumper stickers that say, “Support Our Troops,” where the words “support” and “troops” are written in red, but the word “our” is in blue, all on a white background. As the colors fade, the blue fades first, leaving a message which is very different from the original one.
So, now we have three holidays (plus D-Day and Pearl Harbor Day) to celebrate and honor the war-making institutions of our country. But since Dr. Martin Luther King’s opposition to the Vietnam War is always carefully avoided in the Martin Luther King Day observances, we don’t have any holidays to celebrate peace.
Maybe this actually gives a more accurate picture of America’s values today. After all, we have been involved in an endless series of wars against some vague, ill-defined “terror” groups for a decade. And both the Bush and Obama administrations have seemed intent on implementing the Project for a New American Century’s 2000 policy document, Rebuilding America’s Defenses, complete with its “two-war” standard.
But is that really the vision of America that we want? Do we really want to transmit the emphasis on war-making to our descendants, or do we want to balance it with a vision of peace, as well?
No, it’s time for Veteran’s Day to find another date. As Americans, it’s time for us to “reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace,” and reclaim our celebration of stopping one of the worst episodes of mass murder in Earth’s history.
It’s time for us to reclaim Armistice Day.
Alan Pyeatt is a professional engineer and musician, plus he is currently an At-Large Member of the Executive Committee of the California Libertarian Party. Although he is from Texas, he has lived in California for many years. He has been a Libertarian since 1981.
Let’s honor the ending of WWI and just move the
day honoring the other Veterans some other day.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg
Interesting ATBAFT, this time people noticed. Part of it is that whiny Michelle O’Bachmann (that’s what Letterman calls her). She stood by quietly while Ron Paul was shafted all the prior debates, but when it happened to her, she cries foul. What a baby! This is just another example of how flawed a human being she is.
They gave Ron Paul all of 90 seconds to make the case for peace and more than 3,000 seconds for the war mongers to rattle their swords.
glad to know that
Gustav Hasford
Bedtime Story
Sleep, America.
Silence is a warm bed.
Sleep your nightmares
of small
cries cut open now
in the secret places of
Black Land, Bamboo
City.
Sleep tight, America
dogtags eating sweatgrimaced
TV-people
Five O’clock news:
My son the Meat.
Laughing scars, huh?
Novocained fist.
Squeeze every window
empty
then hum.
Fear only the natural
unreality
and kiss nostalgia goodbye
Bayonet teddy bear
and snore.
Bad dreams are something
you ate.
So sleep, you mother.
Thanks, Eric!
And thanks for the poems, Michael and Thomas. Those are very touching.
“Dulce et Decorum Est”
by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
“In Flanders Fields”
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
“In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
The story is here http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm
Nice piece. Well done.