Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day – Formerly known as Armistice Day. It was created to remember the great slaughter and tragedy that was World War I in hopes of mankind never repeating that mistake.

Needless to say, we haven't learned.

So, I hope you did not celebrate this day the way capitalists encourage us to – by going shopping. There's a Veteran's Day sale for … you name it. Clothing, furniture, cars, and whatever else you can dream up.

Instead, I hope you spent the day looking at veterans. Looking at what they have been asked to do and what they have done through the eyes of compassion.

These people are our fellow citizens and:

-some were lied to by recruiters in order to meet a quota

-some thought they were standing up to defend their country against foreign enemies

-some had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives post high school , so they joined

-some were left unemployed and needed a job to support themselves or their family

No matter what the motivation, these people gave of their time and lives. And they were betrayed by their country.

Look at the Veteran's Administration and the VA hospital system. Veterans that need care can not receive it. Yet major military contractors can receive billions of taxpayer dollars for weapon systems that the military admits it has no use for and that (many times) do not work as advertised. The Patriot Missile System. The M-16. The F-22. The F-35. And the list goes on.

We have thousands of veterans that are being denied the care they need – many dying of treatable diseases or conditions – while we have a tank farm in Ohio that has over 3,500 M-1 tanks sitting idle and rusting. (BTW - $1.4 each.) How many veterans lives could have been saved if that money were put into serving humanity instead of Wall Street?

Cincinnati reported a few years ago that 50% of its homeless were veterans. I'm not sure what Buffalo's numbers are, but how many empty houses could be bought and fixed up with the money wasted on 5 M-1 tanks?

Let's look at what some soldiers are asked to do – the most vile thing a person can be told to do – kill another human being in the name of an idea. And the emotional trauma that goes along with committing that act. The alcoholism, drug abuse, violence against loved ones, and so many other problems.

These people deserve our compassion and mercy. Not our condemnation.

If we are to condemn anything, let's condemn the system that sends them out to die.

Let's condemn capitalism.

I'll salute that.