Veterans Day

Today is a holiday, as many of you know.  But I feel like BYU has forgotten that today is Veterans Day.  I was discussing this with my mother last night, and she reminded me of a time when she kept me home from elementary school because it was Veterans Day.  The school called and asked where I was.  She explained to them that it was a federal holiday, so she kept me home.  Needless to say, they were not happy; also, BYU is the only other school I know that makes you go to school (and work) on Veterans Day.  Here are some reasons as to why I should not have to be on campus today:

1. Banks are closed
2. Mail will not be delivered
3. Federal offices are closed
4. We should be honoring Veterans
5. IT'S A HOLIDAY!

Are those good enough reasons?  If not, maybe this will change your mind - President Dwight D. Eisenhower said the following in regards to Veterans Day:

"...it is well for us to pause, to acknowledge our debt to those who paid so large a share of freedom's price.  As we stand here in grateful remembrance of the veterans' contributions we renew our conviction of individual responsibility to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness."

One last thought for good measure.  When proclaiming this a holiday in  1919, President Woodrow Wilson said this:

"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."

There you have it folks.  Veterans Day is a holiday.  And we should be spending our time remembering that, the people who have fought and died for this country, and for this land we live in.  Thanks a million veterans!