Veterans Day Reflection

I just wanted to write to express some of my troubled feelings after the Veterans Day assembly. I would like to point out that I think having a Veterans Day assembly is a very good idea so that we as a school can take time to honor and recognize everyone who risked their life to protect our country. I really think Veterans Day is a unique holiday where our country can take time to appreciate everything the veterans have done for our nation. It is also somewhat of a personal day for my family because both of my grandfathers are veterans.

That being said, I was very upset and disappointed with the assembly we had at Lick. While although there was a lot of good information that the speaker covered, I felt that his overall lecture had an

I felt that he was trying to discourage everyone in the room from joining the military and I felt that he focused too much on how the military is terrible. Something he said that I really was not able to shake off was when he said he would “break his nieces and nephews kneecaps” if they tried to enlist in the military. I am sure that statement was a hyperbole but the message he was sending felt very real. I took him saying that in the way that he was giving his opinion that nobody should join the military. I think that statement he made holds a lot of power because he is someone who has experience in the military and is viewed as an expert on the topic. So by him implying that he would never knowingly allow his loved ones to enlist, I think can hold a lot of influence. I am in no way saying he is wrong for feeling that way, but I felt it was an extremely inappropriate time to attempt to share his anti-military beliefs. He also made a point to say how enlisting and recruitment officials are liars and to never trust what they say, which again, felt to me as an unnecessary display of his anti-military