I had not planned to write my annual Veterans Day tribute until November 8, a few days before Veterans Day. However, as I’ve written here many times, plans have a way of changing in a hurry. The convergence of three events has made this a fact one more time.

 

The first involved a forum post (several weeks back) by a distressed veteran. A teacher had made comments critical to our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Worse, she made the comments in front of his 13-year-old granddaughter whose Marine father was about to leave for duty in Afghanistan.

 

Since I did not have enough information to comment on the incident, such as precisely WHAT the teacher said and the context in which she said it, I did not comment.

 

The second event occurred last week and involved another comment by yet another teacher, which was also critical of our military involvement in the region.

 

And, another child—this time a 12-year-old—became upset because his Marine father had already left for duty in Afghanistan. Only, this time I was very familiar with both the teacher and her contextual frame of mind.

 

Finally, the third event involved an item forwarded to me by a good friend and former colleague concerning a lesson taught by another teacher back in 2005. I was supposed to “pass it on.” But, I didn’t because I don’t “do” chain emails.

 

In the second incident, the teacher’s comment compared our involvement in Afghanistan to Viet Nam. She was critical of the government’s “confused” goals and stated that we should not be sending our soldiers over there until we know what we’re doing.

 

The child thought she was criticizing our soldiers for being there. And, she was not the only one upset. A group of parents, including a “mad-as-a-hornet” grandfather (all toting pitchforks and torches), angrily stormed the principal’s office.

 

The teacher, absolutely stunned, apologized… PROFUSELY, stating that she has unyielding respect for our soldiers but she’s not very confident in a government that, perhaps prematurely, makes it necessary for young girls (and boys) to say goodbye to their fathers in the first place.

 

I’m giving the teacher the benefit of the doubt regarding her intentions, but she needs to exercise more care in the way she conveys her message.

 

But, the incident gave me a perfect segue for introducing Martha Cothren, another teacher who knew perfectly well how to get her point across with an effective, long-lasting impact.

 

I’m including her social studies lesson of 2005 below. But first, since I’m one, too, here are a few of my own thoughts on the matter of military veterans, especially since our current circumstances are increasing their ranks considerably.

 

November 11 is Veterans Day. As usual, the annually occurring avalanche of sales will smother us. So will the opportunistic hot-air tsunami of blah… blah… speeches by myriad politicians.

 

Veterans come from every spectrum of society and from every occupation. They’re Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. I’d also venture a small wager that some may not vote at all. But, many of us don’t, either.

 

They’re a symphony of Christians, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, Muslims, and religious beliefs some of us have never even heard of.

 

They’re a hodge-podge of people from every racial and ethnic group known to American society and every level of formal education from meager to PhD.

 

They have hopes and dreams and families. They have careers and jobs, and likes and dislikes. They suffer pain and experience pleasure. They’re just like us! In fact they are as close to a natural cross-sectional representation of who we are as a country as exists.

 

But, when their country calls, they forgo all of it. They drop whatever they’re doing, forsaking all personal comforts and pleasures. They leave families, friends, and put their careers and jobs on hold for the duration.

 

Because, suddenly, nothing else matters but the mission we’ve asked them to undertake. They become ONE, a band of men and women dedicated to a singularity of purpose.

 

While they don’t want to, they are willing to die rather than fail the mission; and, some of them will. While they try not to, they’re willing to suffer great pain from wounds received in the process; and, some of them will.

 

Thankfully, most will come back in one piece, both physically and mentally. But, some won’t and it will be up to us to take care of them. And, we will… most of the time. But sometimes we’ll fail.

 

The piece that follows is true. Martha Cothren is a real person and a very good teacher… IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL. Unlike some others, she personifies the difference between talent, which hits targets no one else can hit, and genius, which hits targets no one else can even SEE.

 

And, please note the absence of innuendo, political and religious dogmatism, and personal prejudice or bias. It’s a lesson straight from her heart aimed at students she loves. So, here it is.

 

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies schoolteacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room, they discovered that there were no desks. “Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?” She replied, “You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.”

Editorial note: Remember, these kids ranged in age between 13- and 15-years of age!

They thought, “Well, maybe it's our grades.” “No,” she said. “Maybe it's our conduct.” She told them, “No, it's not even your behavior.” And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon, television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom, Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.

The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, “You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.”

 

I, too, am a Veteran and proud of it. And, for as long as I live, I’ll be proud to have been a member of that band of men and women. I see their faces as clearly today as I did some 43-years ago.

 

But three of them stand out. Two of them died in my arms on a wet, blood-soaked jungle floor in Viet Nam. I still have my blood-caked combat fatigues as a reminder of the sacrifices they made.

 

The third one is in a Veterans home many miles from here. He was an Army Ranger, a sergeant. Among other problems, he can’t quite remember that the war is over. He still cringes, shaking in a fetal position at the sound of loud noises, especially thunder.

 

I visit with him every month and have since 1968 and will continue to do so until one of us dies. He still calls me Lieutenant Joe and tries to “look out” for me.

 

Veterans Day should be a golden opportunity for all of us to remember what this country has always stood for and to stop the incessantly stupid backbiting, political vitriol, and sometimes-pure hatred for people simply because they’re Liberals or Conservatives.

 

Believe it or not, the only thing that’s kept us together as a nation is the fabric of America’s collective life, which has always been sewn together with the stitches of good intentions.

 

I have neighbors who have been married 60-years. Everyone thinks they have stayed together all this time because “they’re so darn compatible.”

 

But, if you ask them, they'll tell you in no uncertain terms that people over-hype compatibilities. Learning how to live with their INCOMPATIBILITIES is what has kept them together all these years.

 

As a country, we need to keep this in mind. It will keep all of us focused on the things we have in common. If not, there is no way we’ll ever reconcile our differences.

 

Joe Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. You may comment on his column by clicking here.