Recognize the true meaning of Armistice Day

JOLT is honoring Veterans Day.

November 11 became a holiday because it was the day when World War I ended in 1918 with an armistice.  It was called “Armistice Day,” a holiday DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING PEACE.

Later it got hijacked into a day to CELEBRATE WAR in the guise of celebrating veterans.  But the subtext is really intended to glorify war.

My brother (a Vietnam veteran) became a teacher here in Washington State.  A State law requires each school to organize a Veterans Day assembly for all students, so one year the principal told my brother it was his turn to conduct the Veterans day assembly.  My brother had not been a peacenik when he was drafted, but he became one when he was in Vietnam and discovered what the war was really doing to innocent Vietnamese people.

He produced a peace-oriented assembly.  He told the students that it was really supposed to be Armistice Day, but it had been hijacked to support militarism.  He said, “Suppose we had an annual day to honor health care professionals.  Would we say, ‘Hooray for disease’?  Or if we had an annual day to honor law enforcement officers.  Would we say, ‘Hooray for crime’?”  He told the students not to let anybody hijack this day of peace in order to pretend that war is acceptable.

I ask JOLT to recognize the true meaning of Armistice Day and stop being complicit in its hijacking and corruption.