Tim's Column for Veteran's Day

Be sure to thank a veteran for Veterans Day

Tim Engstrom, Pothole Prairie
Published Tuesday, November 11, 2008


One year when I was a reporter at the Ames Tribune, my friend Mike McNarney, also a reporter at the Ames Tribune, wanted to meet me at the Tip-Top Lounge after work. I showed up, and he bought me a glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

He said, “Here, this is for you. It is my way of saying thanks.”

“Thanks for what?” I asked.

“Thanks for serving your country. It’s Veterans Day.”

A gifted and inquisitive journalist, Mike always had had a deep appreciation for veterans. His late father was a veteran. Mike, who is from Windsor Heights, Iowa, and now lives in Norfolk, Va., with his wife and son, is a bold defender of free speech and free press. He understands these freedoms come to us through the blood, sweat and tears of veterans.

I say this because I think some folks forget that journalists are people, too. They don’t come out of the ground like potatoes and carrots or like the orcs in “Lord of the Rings.” Journalists indeed are humans, born from mothers like everyone else, and they have an interest in recording the events around us in words and images, just like everyone else. They appreciate the American experience and have a fondness for civics in a vibrant democracy. Some fight for their country, just like many others do. Some die in that service. And some journalists die in the effort to record the events of the world around us, including in the effort to bring you words and images about war.

Journalists aren’t the only working sector to be villified. Lawyers, doctors, politicians, social workers, police officers, teachers, construction laborers — to name but a few — get maligned. Many fields face disparaging remarks based on false stereotypes and ignorance. But there are real people working in those jobs, and many are veterans. Many have accomplished great things in their lives. Many have overcome difficult obstacles. Many have amazing and untold stories.
I hope today you can be like Mike. See people as people. One way you can do that today, Veterans Day, is by thanking the veterans you know.

And you can maintain that outward approach every day by being Minnesota nice. Greet the clerk at the gas station, be courteous to your server at the restaurant, thank your nurse at the clinic, wave to that construction worker, smile at your child’s teacher and so on. You never know who you are talking to, but chances are they are making the world a better place in some way.
Because on Veterans Day, we realize we are all in this experiment called America together. We are all Americans.

Thanks Tim for letting me share your column. j