It's so obvious that even in Waukegan, a town full of people who are unlikely to be found voting or planting tiny flags at a local cemetery, the students are found thankful for veterans.
Since public schools were closed on Friday I got to witness the Veterans Day celebration on Thursday when I entered the classroom. The students had an adorable worksheet for homework on the history of Veterans Day / Armistice Day, and they all read their answers proudly. Then the teacher and her son--a senior in high school who was either skipping class or had the day off--told a story about their cousin, who had been a marine and went to Iraq and was inevitably changed forever.
The personal story helped the students prepare for the day's assignment, which was to write a postcard for the local veterans. Mrs. G and her son would deliver them to a local Veterans Hospital after school.
For the next hour I helped 7th graders write these postcards, and if the spelling was mostly correct they were allowed to color/decorate the back. A few of the postcards made me catch my breath. It's amazing how someone who has no connection to a soldier can understand how much those in the military have done for us.
I have a favorite student, who shall remain unnamed. He's not my favorite because he's perfect, or well-behaved, or funny, but because there is a kindness in him that the rest of the teachers just don't see. There is something good in him that I feel is being stifled.
His was my favorite letter, and probably the best written. The words were sincere, and eloquently written for a 7th grader, and at the end, he wrote out the Pledge of Allegiance. As I sat there reading his postcard, my peripheral vision caught the nervousness in his posture, and I felt my whole face warm up with emotion. The smile he gave me when I told him how good the letter was, and how much I liked it, was something I can't describe.
#11. I've found I'm thankful for Veterans Day, and for veterans, more now than ever. I'm thankful that we still find it important in this country to honor those who have fought overseas--whether or not we agree with the war, whether or not we we know a soldier, whether or not we know how to spell "appreciate." (1 student spelled it "arpyshat"...) I'm thankful that this generation and the next one are being encouraged to thank those who made sacrifices for the freedom of America, even if it means writing a letter to a stranger.
Most of all I'm thankful for my own veterans. My brother, my father, my grandfathers, and my uncles.
In the foreground is my paternal grandfather's grave, in the background my father and brother. (And my dog. She loves veterans too.)
[photo taken by Becky Foutz 11/11/11]
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