11/11/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            In addition to being Armistice Day, it’s also my niece’s 34th birthday. She’s expecting her 2nd child & doing some kind of tech work in Richmond, VA. If you have a sec, please give her a call.

            I always struggle with this day as it feels like a celebration of war, making me want to ignore it. But, when I see the plight of veterans who drank the Koolaid of recruiters promising them excellent job training & free education, only to be discharged to the streets, I empathize with them & want to let them know I “see” them.

            An old piece in the G by Rory Fanning (RF) articulated my position when he bemoaned changing the name of the day to Veteran’s Day. He wrote, “Armistice Day was sacred because it was intended to evoke memories of fear, pain, suffering, military incompetence, greed & destruction on the grandest scale …a hallowed anniversary because it was supposed to protect future life from future wars. Veterans Day, instead, celebrates “heroes” & encourages others to dream of playing the hero themselves, covering themselves in valor.”

            Maybe it’s time to change the name back or make up a new one. If you can’t bring yourself to do that, you could popularize the idea of making International Peace Day a federal holiday. In doing so, you could cite Ike’s call to “reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace.”

            At the very least, you could put in a word about the US Institute of Peace (USIP) & its curriculum for schools & allocate more $$ to them as their most recent materials are from 2022. We’ve had plenty of global conflicts since then. Best of all would be to fund a program like RF’s when he went into Chicago Schools to provide a counter argument to the military’s messaging.

            Let’s remind our neighbors WINTA!

            As usual I request that you monitor the situation in Burma & other conflict zones & consult with the folks at USIP about how we might help.

            BYBS,