Today is September 11.

It’s been 8 years since the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon were attacked and since we started this war in the Middle East.

There are those of you who know that I am vocally opposed to war, for almost any reason. Ending the Holocaust? Worth the war. Ending slavery? Worth it. (Though I know, for you historical sticklers that slavery wasn’t the “real” reason for that war.) There are a number of speculations on why President Bush took us to war, probably all incorrect. Whatever they were, even if they were valid at the time, how can they be so valid that we are still over there 8 years later? Osama bin Laden has still not been found. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction.

I realize that if we don’t have a national defense, we open ourselves to attack by those who don’t feel as I do about war. I wish it weren’t true, but I accept reality. Especially after 9/11, I realize that there may come a time when we have to defend ourselves right here in the United States rather than being in someone else’s backyard. We need people who are willing to do that work, to risk their lives, to make those sacrifices so that we can all maintain the freedoms that we (mostly) take for granted.

I am so grateful to those of you who have chosen to serve your country at any point in your lives, regardless of whether you went to war. You didn’t know when you enlisted that we *wouldn’t* go to war, yet you made the choice to serve. Thank you.

My dad is a Vietnam vet. He joined the Army, frankly, because he was the child of poor farmers in South Carolina, had no education and knew that the Army was his only way out of that life. He was in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up. He had two tours of duty in Vietnam. He went to Vietnam idealistic. We were saving the world from communists! He was protecting Americans!

Do you know what he came home to? He came home to being called a murderer by fellow Americans. He came home to PTSD, to medical problems that still – 40 years later – are debilitating. He *still* has flashbacks. Just last year, a doctor removed yet another piece of schrapnel from his back. He was a prisoner of war. Vietnam fucked his life up in ways that I cannot tell you without tears.

I thank veterans when I meet one – or even just see his or her veterans license plate in the parking lot at the supermarket. For whatever reason, it tears me up to do so. Probably because I know how much it means to my dad to have people recognize his service.

Though I am opposed to (unnecessary) war, even I tried to join the Air Force when I graduated from college, because I believe that public service is important and because I recognize the necessity of national defense. What started me on running and weight lifting was a stupid boy telling me girls couldn’t do something but, once I proved that I could, what kept me at it was I wanted to by physically ready to join the Air Force. I’d seen Private Benjamin! I had heard my dad’s stories of bootcamp. I knew I’d never be prepared, really, but at least not completely ill-prepared. However, this was before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. They asked and for some reason, I told. Probably, you know, the whole thing about court martials. Anyway, they didn’t let me join.

For those of you who did serve, thank you. I hope your return to civilian life was not the same as my dad’s.

I’d like you all to do something. There are still soldiers in the Middle East right now and being there sometimes causes them difficulties at home and sometimes they don’t have family or friends who are supportive of them. Go to Soldier’s Angels and adopt a soldier. Adopting a soldier isn’t expensive or difficult: you agree to send one letter a week and at least two care packages a month. The packages don’t have to be big and expensive, so don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of cash. They can be simple. If you can’t do that, there are other ways you can help.

You can sign up to foster a soldier’s pet until they return. Sometimes being deployed leaves the soldier no choice but to take their pet to a shelter. Can you imagine that heartbreak? Expenses are covered, so it won’t be a financial burden for your family. You can make blankets or scarves, you can send cards, you can do all sorts of things. Go to the website and check it out.

They also take cash donations. As much as nonprofits value the volunteers – and in this case couldn’t do the work without volunteers – they need money, too. How else are they going to pay for the website and all the other expenses that go with running an organization.

Thank a veteran, if you know one personally. So, Nick, thank you for joining the Marines even knowing you might be sent to war. So, G, thank you for your time in the Navy. So, Rugby8, thank you for your years in the Marines. So, Ri, who is in the Middle East right now, thank you. For the rest of you who I don’t know are former military: thank you. You have my gratitude and (I hope) the rest of the country’s as well.