Wednesday was Veteran's Day.  If you work for the government, you got a day off.  Whoopee!  For everybody else it was a day like any other.  For millions of Americans, it meant something more.

My friend J.C. Collins of the Higher Information Group was out and about and wished a woman a happy Veteran's Day.  She responded that she would rather honor people who were all about peace, not war.  Okay.  Where to start with this response?

Does she imagine that our volunteer servicemen and women in the armed forces join hoping for war so that they may experience the privations of battle?  Does she believe that those who honor the sacrifice of our military relish war?  Does she think that her life would be just as fulfilling if Hitler had been victorious? 

I've had many conversations with people who share her sensibilities.  I've heard people extol the virtue of showing love towards all people, perceived enemies included.  I have friends who argue that war is never justified, and if we have to give up territories, resources, safety, and a degree of prosperity, it is worth it to avoid the horror of war.

I'm sympathetic to this viewpoint.  War is horrific, to be avoided if at all possible.  I just have one major problem with the "never right to fight" policy.  It doesn't work in our world.  People who think this way are almost invariably of good heart and generous attitude.  But they make a classic mistake, one that I've mentioned many times in my Thoughts of the Week because it is an error that affects us all in our daily conversations.  They imagine that everybody thinks the way that they do.  They're wrong.

There is a such thing as evil.  People have a darker nature that drives them to dominate others.  The most pressing current threat, that of radical Fundamentalist Islam, is real.  I'm not certain how many Major Hasan or 9/11 incidents it would take to convince those who would not fight to reconsider.  But these are just the tip of the iceberg of the attacks that are possible.  Radioactive "dirty" bombs, chemical or biological devices could decimate major cities and cripple our country.  Under those circumstances, all bets are off about how we live our lives.  Civilized society is no given.

We take much for granted.  We want our toilets to flush, clean running water when we turn the spigot, the electricity to work, fuel for our vehicles to be readily available, phone, internet, and television access, and countless other miracles of human innovation.

But these are not the most important issues.  We also cherish rights such as: the right to life, of safety from assault or extortion, to worship as we will, to work as we will for wages to which we agree, to spend our time and money as we will, to raise or not raise a family of whatever size we decide, to travel as we will, to say and think what we will, to publish our real thoughts, to privacy, to own property that can not be taken away by others, to access information, to vote for representatives that will execute policies in line with our beliefs, among others.  Of those, which are you willing to give up?

For those who remember the constant sacrifice our soldiers make on our behalf, Veteran's Day is about gratitude and honor.  It is a time to acknowledge an important truth - freedom ain't free.

Our freedoms are paid for dearly.  Yes, we all want peace.  But most of us want freedom more than we want peace.  Peace under oppression is no peace at all.

The Thanksgiving Holiday is upon us.  Let us include prominently among our many thanks all of our precious Veterans.

Peace and Joy,