Happy Veterans/Remembrance Day

I have to admit, the first time Veterans Day really resonated with me was when I was in London on my study abroad. For like a week in advance of the 11th of November, the British started passing out little paper poppies to pin to your coat in order to commemorate what they call Remembrance Day. (I still have my paper poppy to this very day!) And then they have a moment of silence at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month - Remembrance Day! The entire island stops everything at 11:00 am and has a moment of silence to remember those that were lost in the first World War and all others that have been lost since in later wars. Then the Queen places a wreath of poppies at the base of the Cenotaph in the middle of Whitehall in the heart of London.

I think the reason Veterans Day first resonated with me there is because the British made such a big deal of it. Life stops for them every November 11th at 11:00 am. Being over in there in Europe, they have been caught in the middle of both World Wars and had their country attacked numerous times. While on my study abroad, we visited Coventry and saw the bombed out cathedral there - the British have actually preserved the walls in order to retain the knowledge that they survived the bombings of England, and the Battle of Britain and all the other attacks that were made on England.

We, in the United States, have been truly blessed that we have not had to defend our homeland to the extent they (or the rest of European countries, for that matter) have had to. Don't get me wrong, we have had some terrible tragedies take place on our homeland - with Pearl Harbor and 9/11 standing out the most to me. We would all do well to count our blessings and thank the Lord for the chance we have to live in the land of the free!