As America faces unique modern challenges, divisions have heightened to a level not seen since the Civil War. The founders of the country and heroic figures — from Christopher Columbus to Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and even George Washington — have come under siege and desecration over the last three-plus years, resulting in a diminution of respect for American heritage. Our enemies certainly find solace when Americans engage in self-immolation.
Thus Veterans Day, which was originally founded around the virtue of the cessation of hostilities in World War I rather than the commemoration of any individual, should be a holiday beyond reproach.
Veterans Day had its origin in 1918 at the end of World War I, a conflict that was at that time so horrendous that it was dubbed “the Great War” or “the war to end all wars,” with the United States playing the decisive role in the Allied Powers’ final victory.
It was first known as Armistice Day, celebrated on Nov. 11 because that was the day agreed upon by the Allied nations and Germany to begin a total cessation of hostilities. It went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, after some 20 million people from both sides had given their lives in the war effort.
For many years thereafter, Armistice Day was just recognized on a state level. Twenty years later, when the winds of an even greater war were blowing toward what would be known as
