Boy, it has been a week, an exhausting week. Remind me not to teach the day after an election. But it is testimony to teachers that after a night in which few got enough sleep, and while some watched the news in elation and some in despair, they all pulled themselves out of bed and showed up at school and tried their best to help students deal with what they thought or felt or noticed that their parents felt without pushing their own beliefs and feelings upon their students. It’s just one of the many tough jobs that people may not realize that teachers do because they have to deal with whatever their students show up with in the moment.

But the schools are closed today, so teachers have a long weekend to recover from a tough week.

But today isn’t really about teachers…except maybe tangentially. Today is about honoring those who spent time in military service. Both teachers and military personnel provide vital national service for low wages and not very much respect really. But mostly teachers don’t have to risk their personal safety, whereas many of our military personnel do. Today is about demonstrating our care and appreciation for those who provide military service, especially those who put their lives on the line to protect our country and our country’s ideals.

I had a little picnic in a quiet spot at a nearby park today, dedicated to my father and my father-in-law, both of whom served in the military around World War II. My father was in the Army, but served in the troops who came to restore and rebuild European countries, both allies and enemies, through the Marshall Plan. So his life was not really at risk. But the Marshall Plan and other US post-World War II programs were remarkable because it was such a departure from most post-war plans. The US leaders had learned that their policies of vengeance after WWI had helped to create the rise of Nazism and Facism that led to World War II. So this time around, we helped our former enemies rebuild. I mean, we helped our allies rebuild more, but still….that was a dramatic shift in how people had dealt with their former enemies. Today, Germany and Italy and Japan are among our strongest allies. So I’m grateful for the leaders of that time that understood they needed to try something different. And I’m proud of the role my father played in helping Europe get back on its feet.

But my father-in-law….he was in the thick of things. He was in active combat, including the Battle of Normandy. He, like so many WWII vets, never really talked about it. It wasn’t until I saw Saving Private Ryan that I had a clue how horrific that experience must have been. He was on one of those landing crafts. He was in the Navy, and his job was to stay onboard. But he left the safety of the ship several times to drag wounded warriors back to the ship for medical care. And he was only 18? 19? years old? But he had the presence of mind to ask his captain if he could keep one of the tattered flags that the ship kept replacing through the hours of battles. It is one of his family’s great treasures…a ragged flag that flew during the Battle of Normandy.

It’s easy for us today, most of whom are not directly involved in any actual warfare, to forget about our ancestors of just a generation ago who were so involved in promoting the American values of democracy, with at least a total disruption of their lives and for many, the risk or actuality of losing those lives. So I share these stories just as two examples of the vital services our veterans have given us and the world. And for any veterans who happen to read this, thank you for your service. It matters. It inspires. It leads us to a better state of our American adventure.