Wednesday, November 11 is Veterans day.

Why do we have “Veterans Day”? The 20^th centruy was a century of Wars. The Great War, now referred to as World War I, was supposed to be the “war to end all wars”. There were more, but that is not the purpose of this post.

Did you know that WWI ended seven months after fighting had ceased? What? You say.

There was actually a temporary cease fire signed on November 11, at the eleventh hour. In 1918 at 11 a. m. On 11/11/1918 Germany and the Allied Nations signed that treaty to temporarily end hostilities. The final details of the armistice was signed seven months later on June 28, 1919 in the palace of Versailles outside the town with the same name, in France.

Put yourself in the place of one of those “doughboys” and feel what they may have felt. The fact that the November treaty was just a temporary halt to the shooting would be a little different than the fact that “American Idol” might get cancelled.

In World War 1 we had machine guns, rapid fire artillery, tanks were in their infancy, and airplanes were being used as spotters and occasiionally as ways to deliver killing power to the fields of war. Penicillin was not yet invented and frequently even small wounds became fatal because of unsanitary conditions, and a lack of really good medicines to cure infections. For pain killers we had a vast array of wonderful drugs. Mercury was used to treat STD’s and nearly all of the pain killers are drugs involved in our drug wars. Things like lead acetate, and sugar of lead (?wow?) were used as an astringent in the treatment of diarrhea and a lotion for sprains and bruises.

From the office of the Department of Veterans Affairs website: In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”.

We need to celebrate our freedom because of our veterans. Our freedoms have been attacked over and over, and each time our military men and women are there. Saving lives, regrettably in war they take lives and sometimes they give their own life.  So celebrate the veterans, shake their hands and thank them for their service.

The military protects us from outside threats.  It cannot protect us from ourselves.  Yeah, nothing could go wrong with that solution. Please vote, write your congress person, become active.