"Veterans Day"
by The Bully Pulpit
"In honor of November 11 falling on a Wednesday, we thought it would only be fitting to dedicate today’s #WednesdayWisdom post to veterans and current members of the US Armed Forces. Although we had a lot of choices because Roosevelt talked about veterans and military service frequently, we finally settled on a quotation from an address Theodore Roosevelt gave in San Jose, California, on May 11, 1903. Roosevelt begins the speech by praising the work of the Californians before specifically addressing the American Civil War veterans whom he had met while touring through California.
“I have been greeted here as I have been greeted throughout California by the men of the great Civil War, the veterans to whom we owe it to that there is a country for you and me to be proud of today. They, by their lives, by the record of their deeds, teach us in more practical fashion than it can be taught by any preaching, for they teach us by practice, that in the ultimate analysis the greatness of a nation is to be measured not by the output of its industrial products, not by its material prosperity, not by the products of the farm, factory, business house, but by the products of its citizenship, by the men and women that that nation produces.”
That’s a rather long quotation so we decided to shorten it for today’s #WednesdayWisdom: “[Veterans], by their lives, by the record of their deeds, teach us in more practical fashion than it can be taught by any preaching, for they teach us by practice . . .”
As Roosevelt would convey in countless other written work, what he valued most about soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines was their willingness to act. As Roosevelt wrote in his last book, "The Great Adventure", published after the death of his son Quentin during World War I, “Unless men are willing to fight and die for great ideals, including love of country, ideals will vanish, and the world will become one huge sty of materialism.” He also wrote in the next chapter: “In a great war for the right the one great debt owed by the nation is that to the men [and we would add women] who go to the front and pay with their bodies for the faith that is in them.”
A veteran himself, Roosevelt regularly helped veterans however he could when he was in office and mentioned them often in speeches. Moreover, he was incredibly proud of the military service of his four sons in World War I even though he himself didn’t have the opportunity to serve.
Just as Roosevelt would have wanted, we express our appreciation to all our readers who have served in the US military and put their lives on the line. If you’d like, you can comment below with the branch in which you served. We would be delighted to recognize you in that way. Read Roosevelt’s full speech in the digital library here."
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