how does a pacifist celebrate veterans' day?

every one of the men at the shelter where i work is a veteran. both of my grandfathers were veterans. both of my brothers-in-law are veterans. so how do i celebrate them and their lives when i disagree with the entity that made them veterans?

it has sort of come up before. this summer i was all ready to stick my "when Jesus said love your enemies, he probably meant don't kill them" sticker on my car, but decided against it when i realized that said car would spend most of the summer in front of a veteran's home- a veteran who did NOT need to let me stay there. when questions about my involvement with the mennonite church have come up, it's been impossible to describe my attraction to the faith without mentioning the fact that it's a historic peace church. there has never been any kind of argument or fight (which is good, since i, you know, CAN'T fight) but it's something that has been in the undercurrent of my interactions with my brothers in law; it hasn't really ever come up with any of our residents because i don't think they know that mennonites are pacifists, and it hasn't been an issue with my grandfathers because they both died before i knew what a pacifist was. but one of my brothers in law was a marine, and the other was in the air force, and both served active duty abroad.

the issue of veterans' day reminds me of something my awesome friend brian (http://brianjgorman.wordpress.com/)'s genius dad (http://michaeljgorman.net/) said in a lecture he gave. he mentioned the french village Chambon-sur-Lignon which saved the lives of about 3,000 Jews during the holocaust. the citizens of the predominately christian village felt that it was their duty as christians- and humans- to protect the lives of other humans, so they hid them in their homes, churches, schools, etc. when the nazis figured out what was going on, they went to the mayor and demanded the Jews. the mayor responded by saying something like "we don't know Jews here. only people" (only i bet he said it in french). Dr. Gorman pointed out that the same philosophy can and should apply to us today. i don't know undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, iraqis, mexians, or somalis; i only know people. i don't know gays or lesbians or transsexuals; i know people. i don't know criminals, murderers, rapists, inmates, or people on death row; i know people.

it's easy (for me) to apply the "i only know people" idea to people that i already want to love, people i feel are oppressed, people that Jesus loves and wants me to love, too. but the thing is, justice isn't just if it doesn't apply to everyone, and i would argue the same is true of love. i don't know veterans; i know people. that idea is easy to apply to my brothers in law, because i already know and love them. they seem like real people to me because i eat dinner with them and talk about horses with them and sleep in their houses. but for some reason the wider population of "veterans" is hard for me to love because i'm afraid that somehow loving them will mean saying i approve of choices they made/ situations they were forced into, and i don't.

but veterans' day isn't about celebrating war. it's not about celebrating killing. it isn't about glorifying slaughter or guns or tanks. it's vetarns' day, not war day. the same way celebrating someone's birthday doesn't mean i approve of times in that person's life when they stole or lied or cheated on significant others, celebrating veterans' day doesn't mean i approve of participation in war. it's no longer an issue for me. i know i can celebrate (and love) veterans and hate war, because i do. in fact, loving veterans means i hate war more, because war has put and continues to put veterans and would-be veterans in danger. if the people serving in the armed forces right now die in the line of duty, i'll never get to meet them, which means i'll never get to love them. if my sisters' husbands (God, that's such an awkward relationship to make plural) had died while serving, i wouldn't know them. my sisters wouldn't be married. i wouldn't have a nephew. i'm not ok with that.

so i'll celebrate veterans' day because i DO love veterans, and i hope to have a chance to love more in the future. i don't love them BECAUSE they're veterans, or despite them being veterans. i love them for who they are, not what they do or what they've done before. so yeah, i'll celebrate them.

happy veteran's day.