Spreading the gratitude around

A cousin writes that she is "sending thanks out to everyone who has served our country or has supported family members in the military. They rarely get the credit and recognition they deserve."

My response: "I'd like to see them get more benefits. I think twice yearly national holidays with full media coverage, lots of speeches, assemblies in every school, and special attention at every major sporting event and performance is enough credit and recognition. No other group gets so much."

Beyond that, I think these twice yearly, lip-service-only holidays contribute to a culture of war by honoring only service in the cause of war. Here is my post from last year where I go into more detail about my feelings about this.

I refuse to celebrate [veterans of WWII] as the greatest generation because in doing so we are celebrating courage and sacrifice in the cause of war. And we are miseducating the young to believe that military heroism is the noblest form of heroism, when it should be remembered only as the tragic accompaniment of horrendous policies driven by power and profit.
~ Howard Zinn

Here is the list of some of the people I am honoring today for their service in the cause of equality and peace:

• Ella Baker - Godmother of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
• Jimmy Carter - ethical President, effective advocate of peace
• César Chávez - founder, United Farm Workers
• Esmé Raji Codell - author, educator, friend to children and creative teachers everywhere
• Anne Nicol Gaylor - co-founder, Freedom From Religion Foundation
• John Holt - education reformer, father of unschooling
• Richard Oakes - key player in the Occupation of Alcatraz
• Margaret Sanger - activist for birth control freedoms
• Gloria Steinem - feminist, author, political activist