Unworthy of Honor?

Posted on November 10, 2006

By Trudy A. Martinez

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Staring up from the page are the words:  Veteran’s Day–Regular Classes Scheduled.  “Wrong schedule,” I think.  “I need the Winter Schedule.”  Knowing there is a holiday scheduled and not remembering what holiday it is,  I search for the answer.  “Oh, here it is,” I tell myself as my eyes read the bold print: Martin Luther King Day — Campus Closed.

“Why,” I ask, “do we observe Martin Luther King Day when we do not observe Veteran’s Day?”  True, King fights with words for freedom of oppression for one segment of the population.  But it is also true millions of service men, both black and white, fight with their lives to insure freedom for us all.  Why then doesn’t the campus observe their Day as well?  Is the lack of acknowledgement because service men use violence while the educated use words as a method of persuasion?

If the method of persuasion determines worthiness, the message conveys the Universities do not consider those who fight to ensure freedom with their lives on the same level as an educated man; and therefore, the fighting men are not worthy of honor.  The past reiterates this thinking; Universities were havens for the affluent to avoid the draft; the less affluent were excluded from this avenue of escape.  And soldiers returning from war were treated as outcasts.

Even though the efforts of the press physically acknowledge service men recently returning from military excursions, the message sent remains the same:  You are not worthy of our honor!

I for one say, “You’re wrong!”

This analytical  journal entry was written back in 1994.  Nevertheless, things are the same.  All do not honor those who lay their lives on the line to maintain and preserve our freedom.  Why not?  Do you have the answer?