"What we observe"

A friend of mine who honorably served in the US Army, including a tour in the first Gulf War, sent me this e-mail today. He poses an interesting question.

"I am, by no means, the most patriotic person in the world. Some of my views could be considered down-right anarchistic.

But, I had an interesting observation about Veteran’s Day

Some schools observe it, and some don’t. Some stay open (as Marylhurst does), and some close. This is odd to me because it is a Federal Holiday, and almost all primary and secondary schools close on Veterans day(as far as I can tell).

Conversely, MLK Day appears to be uniformly observed in colleges and universities, but not always in primary and secondary education.

Now, I don’t know if that means anything. And I really don’t know what it means to me, but as a white (not by choice) veteran (by choice), it certainly makes me think."

Thank you, Veterans

One of the lessons I learned from my dad was that fences make good neighbors. The caveat I add is that fences are only as good as the people guarding them.

On this special day, I want to thank the veterans of the United States Armed Forces who serve and have served at the call of their country. I thank you for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your families. I wish I could do it in person, but hopefully enough people like me are out there to let you know we haven't forgotten.

Thank you.