Armistice

I am not a military historian. Actually, I am not a historian of any kind. At all. I pretty much detested my high school history teacher who picked his nose and only talked about the Civil War, and therefore I took as few formal courses as possible. In my adult life, I have seen this as a bit of an issue. I don’t like not knowing stuff. And becoming associated with a military guy who likes history and is required to *know* military history has pretty much shone a Batman-distress-signal-sized flood light directly upon my ineptitude in this capacity. (History is *not* the pie I’ll be winning for your team in Trivial Pursuit.)

But as today is Veteran’s Day and since I am in fact marrying a Veteran, I felt compelled to learn more about the history of this day. I’ve already had many lovely people thank me for my military sacrifices. (I have learned to stop myself short of reminding them that I’m not the one making the sacrifices, and have simply learned to graciously say thank you. You can teach an old dog new tricks, apparently.) At any rate, if I’m getting thanks, I feel like I need to know what for.

And so, this is what an exhaustive search has taught me about Veteran’s Day. (And by exhaustive search, I mean I Googled it.)

On June 4, 1926 Congress passed a concurrent resolution officially declaring that November 11, the day of the official cease fire in World War I, would be recognized heretofore as Armistice Day. And for my friends keeping a vocabulary list…

Armistice: a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement between the opponents : a suspension of fighting especially of considerable duration by agreement of opposing forces: a respite especially from a disagreeable or painful state or action

The resolution stated in part, (in the lovely way that resolutions do), “Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; We therefore declare," …and so began the tradition of celebrating the day that fighting stopped. Armistice.

Originally, Armistice Day was a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I only. But in 1954, after the hard fought World War II (which mobilized the greatest amount of manpower in US history) and the struggle in Korea, the veterans service organizations convinced the 83rd Congress to amend the Act of 1938 by changing the word "Armistice" to "Veterans," thereby honoring not just those who fought in World War I, but instead all Veterans and Active Servicemen.

And so Veteran’s Day has become a day to remember those passed who brought peace and freedom and democracy to the world and to say thank you to all those still serving in our United States Military today for the sacrifices they are making. (And by extension, it turns out, their families for letting these folks go and do this job while keeping the home fires burning.)

As I did this little mini-research project, I found it of particular interest that the day we celebrate as Armistice Day is not the day WW I ended. It is not the day the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Not the day the war was “officially” over, but rather, just the day we all stopped fighting. I think that I love this part the most.

While I obviously appreciate a day that recognizes all our vets and says thank you, I sorta wish that Veteran’s Day and Armistice Day were two separate occurrences. Because in my head they celebrate two different things—two things that should both have their equal days of respect on the calendar.

I know firsthand right now about the sacrifices that military families make. And I’m not even close to a worst case scenario in that respect. J and I are still not married, so I don’t have to bumble around the house we once shared by myself while he is away. I have a full and active life and job and friends to keep me insanely busy while he is serving. We do not have children who, in my opinion, bear the brunt of the hard times of a deployment. I look at my unbelievably strong mother-in-law-to-be who is married to a retired Navyman, who has two sons who serve (and are often Over There at the same time.) I’m not sure how she does it. If I feel like I’m making sacrifices for the military, then I can only imagine what those who are longer and deeper invested must be feeling.

And so, it is right and good that we say thanks. Happy Veteran’s Day, indeed.

But I love the thought of Armistice Day. Peace day. Not the day the war ends, but rather celebrating the day the fighting stopped. There will always be wars to fight and causes to defend and beliefs to stand up for. But what if for one day, just one single day, we all just shut up and got along. Laid down the weapons (figurative and otherwise) and just took a deep breath. Fighting of any kind is hard and exhausting. What if for one day in our crazy lives we took the time to lay down our arms and merely be thankful that we’ve got fight left in us.

I think this idea is sorely needed in today’s world. In a time in U.S. history when things seem so negative and contentious… (maybe it’s always been this way? Please note my original “I know nothing about history” confession). When partisan politics are running amok and causing so many people to become disenfranchised with government… when the populace has become obsessed with political affiliation or sexual orientation or religious alignments instead of the people, the human beings, behind these labels…when the news is sensationalized for ratings and polarization AND YET continues to turn a blind eye and deaf ears to stories about the human condition (unless it furthers their political agenda)… when the headlines each day tell us about bullying and lack of tolerance and suicides due to folks feeling like they weren’t accepted as human beings…

I don’t know, but to me, it seems like a day of armistice might be a welcomed respite from it all. A day to lay down your weapons, cease fire, and “perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding…”

I’ve been thinking about how I can apply this idea to my own life. I know that over the past few months I have been doing nothing but fighting, and keeping a much-more-negative-than-normal outlook on, well, just about everything. And in the last few days I have even had occasion to be spiteful (what my friends say is well-deserved spite, but is not usually my style and is nonetheless not my finest hour.) These things are not good, and do not reflect the person I want to be.

And so today, I’m going to practice a little peace: Stop the negativity and stop the fighting and just be grateful and say thanks. And I’d encourage others to do so as well. Because if we can all get behind taking one day to turn off the violence and negativity and to lay down our arms, then maybe we can get behind a second day and a third. Because just like everything else in the world, the more you practice at peace, the better you get at it.

Happy Veteran’s Day and happy Armistice Day.