Newspapers In Education
American Veterans
By Amelia Theriault
Eighth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School
American Veterans are role models to me. They stand up for our country and protect our rights. A veteran creates for me pride in my country. I am so proud to live in a country that someone would have enough pride that they will willingly endanger their lives to protect our values. As I have grown to respect these values as much as they, I appreciate them even more and more. The appreciation for my country’s veterans makes me proud to live here.
A veteran is someone who puts him or herself in front of a gun to keep their country safe. I appreciate that very much because someone who appreciates someone else’s life as much as their own makes me so appreciative. Broken limbs, wounds, a jagged scar, or a certain look in the eye. They don’t care. No matter what, our country will be safe with them.
They put their minds to anything but themselves. They make us safe and make us feel safe. They don’t always feel safe, but that doesn’t matter to them as long as we’re safe and sound. Scared? No. They aren’t. That’s not them. They’ll fire on someone and kill them, for who? For us. Yes. For us. They make me so proud of my country, and to be in this very place is an honor. Because of them, without their sacrifice and hard work, the world I know would not be the same. Considering the enormity of what our veterans have accomplished, makes me greatly appreciate and admire them.
Many witnessed and endured terrible things. They were prepared to die for a cause just because they cared enough about our county to do that. Even the veterans that aren’t with us today still died for a cause. And that cause was to keep their country, their state, their hometown, safe. That’s all. Just safe.
Although stated many times, my veterans couldn’t make me any more proud to live in America. My grandfather fought in Vietnam for our freedom, and now has suffered from PTSD ever since. But every time I see him I notice how joyful he is to still be alive, and healthy with all his limbs. Everyone who loved others as much as they did should be rewarded in a big way. American veterans make me live for things I think are right.
