By guest author Ross Caputi
What is the point of Veterans Day?
I have a proposal. The only sensible goal that Veterans Day could ever have is not to have any more Veterans Days. Veterans Day must become self-defeating.
That this proposal seems shocking to some is evidence that war and the “heroic veteran” have become permanent parts of our culture. They have become traditions in our society.
My proposal will seem shocking to some because we live in a warrior society, where special rights and esteem are given to our warriors, but not to our civilians.
In our society, war is a tradition that veterans have carried on each generation. Civilians no longer look to the day when we no longer have wars, and as a consequence no longer have veterans. This is unimaginable.
The current purpose of Veterans Day is to celebrate this tradition and indoctrinate the next generation, who look up to our society’s warriors and will follow in their footsteps.
This must stop. For veterans to continue to enjoy their special status in our society is self-serving and short sighted. We veterans have a moral responsibility to renounce these traditions.
Veterans Day must become a day when veterans share their experience with civilians, not in search of praise, but to educate about the horrors and injustice of war.
Veterans must ensure that the next generation does not follow in their footsteps.
Ross Caputi