Thank our veterans every day

I think we should all thank a veteran today and every day not just on Veteran’s Day.

If it wasn’t for them and their willingness to step forward and answer the call of duty, none of us would have the freedoms we so enjoy for as long as we have.

We owe our veterans who have served, along with all those who continue to serve, a debt that can never be paid. All any of us can do is say thank you for your service every time we see them.

I’m sure that they would be glad to be thanked, even though they didn’t do what they did for thank yous or a pat on the back. They did it all because they saw it as a duty, their duty to serve.

But it is nice to be thanked for serving your country, for protecting all of us, especially all those here at home. That’s why it’s so very important to thank those in the military now along with those who are retired or veterans.

Without all they have done for all of us, we wouldn’t be free. That’s why I am saying we all should thank them every time we see them. It’s the least we can do for them to let them know how grateful we are for what they have done for us.

Roger Burt

Lauderdale 

Learning to listen and respect others

Let life beat. Let breath breathe. Let light gleam. Let death loom. Accept it as absolution. We are time escaping. This is the moment of now. Believe…

We live together in a constant stream of worried existence. Constantly changing and being changed with an everlasting desire of survival. Knowledge has now been placed second.

What if I were to tell you of a place that you could speak how you feel without the fear of a cutting retribution? What if there was a place that you could discuss thoughts and theories with another lifeform or another lifestyle and come to common ground or just a sense of understanding? What if you could look at a mirror and see yourself growing under a different way of life?

The ability to speak freely is the ability to learn. First there must come a desire to communicate. We teach that it’s OK to be strong in your beliefs but we do not demand respect for that of another.

How do we grow, how do we learn, how do we understand how to change if we cannot understand how to listen? Live and let live, Be and let be, Dream and let dream, Grow and let grown, Serve and let serve….in their own way. If you deserve to be here then how do they not?

We can change for sure. We are forced to do it every day. Breathe and let Breathe that is the only constant. Teach respect and earn respect. Love life.

Daniel Gray

Collinsville