Veteran’s Day: A National Day of Commemoration
Veterans day is, in my opinion, one of the most important days of the entire year. It is a day meant to commemorate those who lost their lives for the betterment of our country. It is also, unfortunately, one of the more underrated and minimally celebrated holidays in the nation. Darien High School does a great job with its Veterans Day celebration; this year’s assembly was both very interesting and inspiring, as the students got to experience an important part of America’s history through the eyes of men who were there to witness it. While in school the way our nation’s troops are commemorated was very respectful and insightful, the question stands: why is it that on this day we are in school at all?
As the son of a former member of the U.S. Military, Veterans Day is an extremely important day in my family. Military service runs in both sides of my family, and I have spent my childhood going up to West Point and learning all about the army and types of people that serve in it. These people are incredible. They’re some of the toughest, most committed people that you’ll ever meet, whose main interests in life are protecting the nation and doing their part for freedom. Although they do not ask for anyone to celebrate their bravery and heroism, they deserve it all the same. These are people worth celebrating, people whose courage and bravery deserve more than 30 minutes to be celebrated and commemorated.
While a Federal Holiday that grants some schools a day off, Veteran’s Day at DHS is a day spent in school with all normal classes. After asking one of my teachers, (whom will remain un-named), if they believed we should have a day off for Veteran’s Day, they replied that they thought kids would just use it to sleep, and that being in school and doing something “useful” is more important. I cannot speak for all of my fellow students, but if we had a day off for Veteran’s day, I would spend it with my Dad, honoring his, both my Grandfather’s, and my Great Uncle’s years of service. Obviously not all of the members of the student body have family members that are veterans, but those that do should be granted the holiday in order to celebrate with and commemorate their loved ones. Take Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for example, not all of the students in this school are members of the Jewish faith, but those that are are granted a day to celebrate their faith with the ones they love.
In order to capture the opinions of the people on the school’s current Veteran’s Day festivities, I interviewed a few students to capture their opinions on the matter.
My first subject was Junior Nico Clark, who when asked if he believed we should have Veteran’s Day off, stated, “For sure. It’s just as important as most of the other holidays we celebrate here, and the members of our military need to be commemorated for their service.”
“Veteran’s Day is an extremely important day in our nation’s history, our soldiers deserve our upmost respect and commemoration for their years of service.” says President of the Support Our Soldiers Club, Cassie Maroney.
Veteran’s Day is a day that is important to say many people in the school and the nation, and whether or not we do have school, what is important is that we remember what the day is truly for, and why it should be important to all of us.