courtesy of the red white and blue.

First and foremost, Happy Veteran's day! I am very lucky to know so many great men and women I can say that to. I am proud of you each and every day. I love driving down Lincoln and looking at the names on literally every telephone pole and smiling at the fact that almost every one is a familiar face. If any of you live in Charleston and had to be at work early this morning you saw the two young boys, I believe they were boy scouts, putting American Flags on each one of those very same poles. I don't care who you are, that warms the heart.

Holidays like today always get me thinking...and you know when I get to thinking..I get to blogging. Thinking about how for most of my generation Veteran's Day is just another meaningless holiday to post a quick Facebook status about, or maybe get out of school or work for. This saddens me. I realize our country has more than it's fair share of problems, but the lack of respect that so many people have for our veterans and our country is absolutely ridiculous. You don't agree with our President? You disagree with where our soldiers are now? Fine, you are perfectly able to voice those opinions. Disagreeing with something does not give you the right to disrespect it. You think that when our Grandparents were younger they would have slapped a ONE BIG ASS MISTAKE AMERICA bumper sticker on the back of their car? Helll no. Because there used to be such a thing as patriotism. I realize our country has done plenty of things to make having pride in it a little more difficult, fine, touche. I agree. If you want to put ignorant redneck bumper stickers all over everything you own...go for it. I just don't particularly understand why it seems to be the cool new thing among young people to hate America while sitting on your butt and doing nothing to change anything. I really appreciate that you believe you can solve all of our government's problems by writing a Tweet or Facebook status, now how about you do something with your views that will actually make a difference?

Look at Vietnam, I disagree with a lot of things that happened on the protesting front, but at least those people weren't sitting on their asses and complaining about things they know nothing about and would rather not learn anything about. They believed they were losing their America, and they wanted it back. I ask of my generation, "What is our America?" A group of whiny, uneducated, spoiled brats that think nothing of bad mouthing the men and women that give them the very right to do so. That seems to be our America.

It absolutely kills me when people talk negatively about the Armed Forces. I've heard everything from calling them uneducated to unnecessary. You know what I have to say to that? How about you go enlist. Better yet, go tell your opinions to a woman who has been widowed at twenty three. Tell a mother who will never see her daughter again. Why don't you go tell a little boy that his daddy died so people like you could fling around ignorant statements. Walk a woman down the aisle who never got to meet her father. Even better, go tell your views to a soldier that watched his brother take his last breath, for you.

I guess I have gotten a little off topic here, I could go on for pages upon pages about what I think of the majority of my generation. But I won't. What I am trying to say here is, next time you want to "fit in" and sling an insult at our military, think of what you're really saying. I guarantee you that if you really knew what you were talking about...you would feel like the biggest jackass this side of the globe. We all disagree with a lot of things, our government, the mess that we call the economy, hippies on Wall Street, sex, drugs, rock and roll...there is more than enough reason to do so. All I ask is that you keep the men and women that are fighting for their America out of your negative opinions. If not, at least remember who is allowing you to keep talking.