Veterans offered their lives for us

There are moments when one wonders exactly what goes through the mind of another person, or more accurately group of persons, to cause them to act in the way that they do. Such a moment is almost bound to occur, when we as a nation have a presidential election, which of course happens once in four years, conjoined with Veterans Day.

As a lifestyles columnist, it isn't my place or forte to address political issues; such addressing is only tangential to my focus. This column, however, concerns being a military veteran; it is not about politics.

The rule by which most of us learned to abide, when we were sworn in as enlisted or officers in the military, includes a creed which more or less encompasses "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." (No, those exact words are not present, but the concept is.)

I'm no longer in that position, but those of us who are or have been can understand full well that it sometimes taxes the patience. Especially when either side in an election mounts attacks on the other, attacks which border on treason. I need to add that, from what I have seen, most of those attacks do not come from the candidate, but from sketchy support groups.

The majority of people who have worn military uniforms have done so perhaps for a variety of reasons, with among those reasons a protection of the liberties which the Constitution guarantees us. Idealism alone would see pure patriotism as the sole motive, but it is generally one of the motives.

Once when adding up in my mind the list of people for whom I would die — not just risk my life, but die for certain — I realized that those who have joined the military have said that, for a given period of time, they were willing to die, not for an individual, but for all of us and our rights.

It made me feel, not proud in a negative way, but rather humble, to realize that we who are veterans have implicitly made such a statement. The awareness of that is a gift, the gift to serve a small part in the protective guarding of our freedoms. It reminds me of a coffee cup which I once bought at West Point (sadly broken, hint to wife, Christmas is coming) that had a picture of a cadet and the slogan "The Long Gray Line." There's a reason those guys wear the outdated uniform of the early 1800s for formal occasions, and the reason is not bad tailoring. It's history.

Let me correct any misunderstanding — I did not go to West Point; I was just visiting there. I was a chaplain, not a line officer. Part of the beauty of our heritage (celebrated in that cup) is that our country does nothing to encourage or enhance a military elite. You don't have to go to West Point to serve, and the system is constructed so that our focus is the citizen/soldier.

I hope that, regardless of whom you voted for, you will stop and take the time to thank our veterans this week.

Clyde Davis is a Presbyterian pastor and teacher at Clovis Christian High School. He can be contacted at:

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