Steamboat Pilot & Today

The following quote is worth our reflections, especially now during our national crisis and as we begin what has been designated National Veterans Awareness Week:

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.We even we here hold the power, and bear the responsibilityWe shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth."

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution declaring this week National Veterans Awareness Week because its members saw a sharp decline in the number of individuals and families who have had any personal connection with the Armed Forces and a marked decrease in the awareness by young people of the nature and importance of the accomplishments of those who have served in our Armed Forces, despite the current educational efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the veterans service organizations.

This is as good a time as any for parents, teachers and schools in our community to remedy that situation.

Today, Nov. 11, has traditionally been celebrated as Veterans Day for the better part of the 20th Century.

This year it has even greater meaning because it marks the two-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Thousands have been called to serve not only abroad, but here at home to secure our airports and other landmarks. We should remember those who are serving now just as courageously and selflessly as those veterans we honor on Veterans Day.

When Abraham Lincoln spoke those words quoted above, our nation was in turmoil. But, there were those who stood resolute that The Great Experiment would not fail.

That same resolution abounds today.

We honor that determination.