Stop Fighting! Nobody Has to Lose Anything

Stop fighting! Nobody has to lose anything by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette

This year thoughts of Veterans Day reminded me of my father, brother, uncle, both grandfathers, and our son. Of course, I’ve thought of other friends, too, who are veterans and thank them for their service. But somehow family makes the thoughts and thanks a little more personal.

I believe both grandfathers served in the Army in WWI. Wow! Well over 100 years ago!

I remember my mom telling me her dad postponed marriage because he feared he might not come home. He did come home and brought his helmet that my cousin and I used to play with. I inherited a 1911 .45 ACP pistol from my paternal grandfather through my dad.

My brother applied for Annapolis but was turned down for some serious health issues. But he grew up Navy when our dad fought in WWII in the Pacific. My dad gave Skip his nickname that fit better in many ways than his formal name. Everybody called him Skip or Skipper his whole life.

My dad joined the Navy right after Pearl Harbor and became a Naval Aviator. That was the trigger that brought so many men into the service. I have his logbook from his time over there, as well as a piece of his plane with a hole from a round he attracted.

My uncle Jack was a double dipper being drafted into the Navy for 11 months until the end of WWII. Then the Korean War started, and he enlisted in the Air Force to complete his full time in the service.

My cousin said he served in Newfoundland and supported the DEW early warning system.

Our older son, Eli, was a soldier most of his life growing up on books about the military. When he graduated from high school he enlisted in the Marine Reserves. That was before 911 and he shipped out with his unit to Iraq. His years in college were interrupted while he fought the war on terror that never seems to stop.

All these men are honorable and don’t need little name holders designating them as such. All except for Eli passed away years ago, but they still live through those of us who remember how they loved America. National holidays should remind us of how many things Americans have gone through to be here today. It’s a wonder we’re still held together in the bonds of freedom despite all the wars we’ve had to fight inside and outside our national boundaries. We are literally the most diverse nation that has ever been formed on Earth.

E. Pluribus Unum – Out of many, one.

America has made it for 250 years, historically about the average lifespan for a republic. Predictably we’ve been trying to dismember the body of our population for decades.

Other nations and enemies have been trying to destroy us from the inside out since our founding.

When anyone comes straight at us with division and destruction in their eyes and hearts, we unite.

Why? Because we are united whether we like it or each other or not. God has shed His grace on us whether we believe it or not.

Stop fighting! Go for win-win solutions. Nobody has to lose anything. Do you think things are bad now? Just wait until somebody loses to somebody else who hates America.