Today is Veterans Day.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the men and women whose stories rarely make it into history books.
Not every act of courage happens on a famous battlefield. Not every act of courage is captured on film or in print for history to remember.
Sometimes courage looks like leaving your family because duty calls.
Sometimes it looks like coming home carrying memories no one else can see, so that no one else has to carry them.
As the daughter of a Veteran, I grew up knowing my father had made sacrifices in life. He had enlisted at a young age, during the Vietnam war so that his siblings wouldn’t get drafted. That was courage. That was bravery.
I knew he had seen death and had felt the pain of losing his friends and brothers in arms… But, not having gone through it, I could never imagine what that must have felt like. His bravery allowed so many others to live in peace.
As a storyteller, I think we have a responsibility to remember that every person has a story worth telling.
To every veteran, past and present, reading this…
Thank you.
Because of your service, the rest of us have the freedom to tell our stories.
~Nina Soden #TheRedheadedAuthor
