Thoughts for Thanksgiving

November 21, 2007

      Today is the busiest travel day of the year in the United States. Almost all of you will be giving thanks for your blessings tomorrow (with Texans giving an extra thanks for Football).  Not only is Thanksgiving is the most celebrated holiday in the United States, it is the date that elicits the most contributions and volunteer help at homeless shelters and soup kitchens.  While you are helping the homeless, remember how many of them are Veterans.  Veterans are homeless because, while many of us claim to support the troops, we do not assure that they receive the medical and psychological support after they are no longer useful to carry out our terrible, vindictive foreign policy.

      Do not be misled.  I am not suggesting mindless applause for our veterans, but rather to call to attention to just what we have asked these men and women to do and to live with.  As one Iraq Veteran Against the War said to me: “I have to live with what I have done for the rest of my life.”  Yet, we ask them to live with their consciences with little or no real support from us as a nation.  For the last seven years, the VA and VA Hospitals have received proportionately less and less funding while they are being called on more and more.  The result is that active duty personnel who stick to it can eventually get the care they need. But the Reservist and the National Guard only have a two year window to get the care they need—with an 18 month waiting list.

      I am thankful for the blessings that have been bestowed on me because I am a U. S. Citizen.   I am even more thankful when a member of the military gets the care they need because of the work of the GI Rights Hotline. 

      And one fewer Veteran is bound for the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving.