Veterans Day. (A day late)

Last night around 6:30 I stood in a small football stadium. A local pastor said a quick prayer of thanksgiving and asked for the safety of the players during the game. I pledged allegiance to the flag. The band played the national anthem.

The community we were in is in south Louisiana near Lake Charles. It was affected by the recent hurricanes. On the drive down, we saw evidence of the destruction wrought on that part of my beloved state. If we had driven further south, we would have been confronted with more destruction.

The stands across the field were filled to capacity. There were fans three deep lining the fence on both sides of the bleachers. It was a sea of purple and gold. Behind them the temporarily repaired roof of their gym could be seen. It looked like aluminum foil.

The bleachers on "our side" were also filled to almost capacity. Not just parents and grandparents either. Or just students. Fans had driven 3 hours to support a team that they love and believe in. Some of these people may have children who graduated from the school, some do not. They just wanted to show their support.

I stood in the bleachers with my hand over my heart. As the band played I thought about Veterans Day. All over the state of Louisiana the same scene was being played out. Cheerleaders were standing with pom poms over their hearts. Dance lines were standing at attention, hands over their hearts. Young men were standing on the sidelines, their helmets in their left hands, their right hands over their hearts.

Those boys on the sidelines are around the age that my grandfather was when he joined the army and was promptly knee deep in World War II. Those boys were around the age that my father-in-law who'd never left the state left for a jungle in a country he wouldn't have been able to find on the globe.

Almost every man in my family has been a member of the armed services.

One of my uncles graduated from West Point. My father volunteered for the Navy. Three uncles served in Korea with the army. One uncle was a marine. Another in the army. My grandfather was in the army.

I watched the wind catch the flag. It unfurled and whipped in the wind as the band played. Each of us there in that stadium were there because of the sacrifice that our veterans have made. Without them we would live in a different world.

That sacrifice continues. We have boys and girls a million miles away. Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not, they are there.

I would rather they be here with us, at football stadiums, at their homes, anywhere. Just home.
But they aren't and on Veterans day, we should thank them and any veteran you know for the sacrifices they made and continue to make. Sacrifices so that we CAN sit in stadiums, in our homes, anywhere. So tell a veteran thank you.