Good morning. And to our guests, welcome to Columbus Classical Academy.
We are here to celebrate Veterans Day. Veterans are the men and women who bravely served in our armed forces to protect and defend America and her friends around the world. Veterans Day began in 1919, and was originally known as Armistice Day—a day celebrating the armistice that brought an end to World War I on November 11th 1918 at 11am – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. Following World War II, a man named Raymond Weeks—a veteran himself—proposed expanding the day to honor all those who served, not just veterans of World War I. And so, in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law making Veterans Day a national holiday to recognize all veterans. It is fitting that we should do so.
But, have you ever wondered why we call people who served in the military “veterans”? Well, I suspect you won’t be surprised when I tell you that the English word veteran comes from Latin, and specifically the word veteranus, meaning “old, experienced, or long in service.” And that Latin word comes from the Latin vetus, which just means “old.” Now, that explains why we also distinguish between veterans and rookies in sports – the veteran football player is older, more experienced; the rookie is new, just got drafted. But that doesn’t explain why those who served in the military are considered veterans, especially if they’re not old.
The answer lies deeper than just the etymology of the word. In ancient Rome, veteranus was specifically used to describe a soldier who had completed his years of service and was considered experienced or seasoned in battle. A veteranus was often granted land or settlements as rewards for his service. Our English use of the term veteran reflects this understanding—indeed, only those who served in active duty and who finished their service without being dishonorably discharged are technically considered veterans. It doesn’t really matter if they’re old—it only matters if they were soldiers defending our nation who maintained their honor during their service.
Well, fair enough, you may say. But why have a special day honoring veterans? People serve in lots of honorable professions, even for a long time: doctors, teachers, firefighters, clergy, and so on. Why a special day for our retired servicemembers? Because, as Abraham Lincoln said, “Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure,” and Ronald Reagan further explained that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” There are many noble professions out there, but it is our veterans who were willing to put their lives on the line so that we would have the freedom to be doctors, and teachers, and firefighters. Remember it was John Adams who said, “I must study politics and war, so that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.” And it isn’t just studying war that yields liberty—somebody has to be willing to actually go fight it.
Now, it is fashionable in some circles to think that it is better to have peace at any price than to have war for any cause; and better to have no military at all than to have a strong one. Sometimes, even very smart people have said so. Leo Tolstoy declared that “[t]o destroy governmental violence [or war], only one thing is needed: It is that people should understand that the feeling of patriotism, which alone supports that instrument of violence, is a rude, harmful, disgraceful, and bad feeling, and, above all, is immoral.” And Albert Einstein praised those who refused military service as “the pioneers of a warless world.” But somewhere along the way, Tolstoy, Einstein, and many others forgot that the liberty and security under which they wrote, and studied, and spoke, and published those thoughts were provided precisely by veterans who were willing to fight, so that they wouldn’t have to.
No, I’m with John Stuart Mill, who said: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for… is a miserable creature.”
So, today, we honor our veterans, we celebrate their service, and we thank them for the liberty and security they have provided—we give thanks, that they had something they were willing to fight for. I shared it last year, and I’ll repeat G.K Chesterton’s words here again, because they are worth repeating:
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
Thank you to our veterans. We are grateful to have been behind you. We are proud to stand beside you. And we will never forget.
Now, we will honor our veterans in song.