On Thursday, November 11th I had the honor of introducing the guest speaker for our annual Veteran's Day program. As I sat looking at the audience, I was amazed by how much our students seemed to be into the program....reciting the Pledge, singing God Bless America......not acting like they were just glad to be getting out of Algebra class (flashing back to my school days) but legitimately behaving like it was an honor for them to be there honoring our special guests, the veterans.
Then, as I performed my last duty as part of the ceremony, reading a list of names of area men and women who are either currently deployed or will be deployed shortly overseas, it occurred to me why the students seemed so involved with the program.
These students, as young as they are, have been touched by war. Sadly, most of them can hardly remember a time when our country wasn't involved in a war. As I read down the list it struck me how emotionally involved our students, and the Audubon community,were with the war on terrorism.
Those names that I was reading were the names of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, sons and daughters of the people sitting in front of me and that realization hit me very hard.
Now, I'm not one to show a lot of emotion (like most guys I guess) I mean, of course I got misty eyed when Jim Brown died at the end of the
Dirty Dozen and I was pretty chocked up when Kevin Costner got to play a game of catch with his dad at the end of
Field of Dreams and what guy didn't shed a tear when Rudy finally got to play for Notre Dame. But other than that I'm usually pretty stoic.
But as I worked my way down the list I found my throat getting tighter as I announced each name, the name of a kid who a few years earlier was probably sitting in the crowd at one of these programs. I realized that these students, my students, had an emotional connection with each and every name.
Then I reached a name about halfway down the list that only one person in the gym had an emotional attachment too. But for that person, the meaning of Veteran's Day will change forever....Thank you William, for serving this great country of ours!! Your mom and I love you and pray for you everyday
Thank you to all Veteran's for your service to our country....you deserve more than one day a year.
