Here we go with all the “new beginnings” talk — the resolutions and awesome goals that year after year go along with a change in a number on the calendar.
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When I am in my car with the heater on and still freezing and see a svelte runner out in below-zero temps, it does not encourage me to exercise more. I use social media a lot to get our message out about our military and veterans and to educate on invisible wounds. But all the posts and comments and tweets about how one person is shaking it up with healthy concoctions in their blender don’t make me want to rush out and buy kale. I don’t care that one celebrity ate a rare fruit that looks like it should be thrown away and pounds just dropped off!
Why? Because I cannot relate to any of these people. It doesn’t hit home with me that I might have icicles hanging from my hair and enjoy the experience. I can’t imagine putting kale together with fruit and saying, “Yum!” I don’t have celebrity status and the money that goes along with it for the injections and surgeries that probably help more than some magical fruit to get in such great shape. So, what does all of this have to do with our veterans? After all, I am not a health adviser or a nutritionist. Quite the opposite, as I believe pizza is a “food group.”
The point is, if we can’t personally relate to something it is much more difficult for us to become involved or offer support. Many civilians know very little about military life for the enlisted or the family that serves beside them or what it is like after service to be a veteran in the United States. False presumptions by the 99.5 percent who never served in the military can lead to misunderstandings between civilians and veterans. Bridging that gap is how I have spent a great deal of my time in the past five years. It is why I have this column, which is read by both groups, in hopes that education will reduce the myths because myths lead to stigma and stigma leads to our military, veterans and their families missing the opportunity to have their needs met and to live quality lives.
So, why would YOU — someone who doesn’t want to join the military or someone who has not had direct contact with anyone in the military except maybe an uncle twice removed from a different generation — want to become more acquainted with our veterans and learn a bit more, maybe even volunteer, join a committee or bring education to your school or workplace?
Look around. Every single day, you say and do things that are based on a freedom that our military has had to defend. Our country would be vastly different without those freedoms. Don’t just consider those freedoms talked about the most, for example, religion. Break it down so the freedoms you call upon every day become real to you. You must become inspired and relate it to your life to truly begin to understand the sacrifices our military has made over generations so you can live life as you choose today.
You like to download music on your device, right? That is a freedom many in this world do not have nor do they have the freedom to connect on social media or own a phone. When you go to the grocery store, you have the freedom to choose from items that others around the world will never know even exist. If you hate your job, you can do almost anything in this country with the will and the hard work it takes to succeed. That is a freedom! Want one child, 10 children or no children at all? You are free to make that choice and no one is dictating what sex of child you can keep and what sex gets tossed away like garbage. Don’t like the way our country is going? You have a freedom to vote for your choice; a freedom lacking for many of our fellow humans. This is how you can begin to personally relate to what it means to defend your freedoms. Make a goal in 2015 to be more conscious of the freedoms you use every day. Think more about how freedoms are defended and what your life would look like if you did not have the ability to make the choices you do every day.
I hope this will open your heart to learning more about the cost of freedom and to reaching out and becoming more involved. Please let me know how I can help you and people you know learn more and become more involved. 2015 — the Year of Freedom Awareness.
Pam Hays is president and founder of The Arms Forces, thearmsforces.org; (419) 891-2111.
