A case for gratitude

This Veterans Day comes as we mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the many contributions the Greatest Generation have made to our nation. Just a few of those veterans remain with us, as we saw at the V-E and V-J Day commemorations this past summer. This Veterans Day, what are we to learn from those heroes?

First, they were everyday heroes. On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, America’s men were largely asleep at home before heading to church and a day of rest. They were farmers, merchants, bankers, laborers, teachers, and students. They were fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. But they were not warriors. America had a tiny peacetime Army due to anti-war sentiment, the lingering effects of the Great Depression, and widespread isolationism.

Nevertheless, the Greatest Generation responded to the call to arms because their country was attacked.

Second, the entire country acted sacrificially, as did our allies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Men lined up at recruiting depots. Women left home to work in factories. Grandparents stepped in to raise the young. Families grew “victory gardens” and purchased war bonds. Community leaders managed rationing.

Third, Americans saw America as a force for good. Eisenhower’s troops in North Africa received booklets about how to act respectfully toward the Muslim men and women they encountered. American troops liberated Western Europe, whereas the Soviet military raped and pillaged its way across Eastern Europe. The egalitarian, freedom-loving character of the United States stood in sharp contrast to the hierarchical, suicidal Japanese ethos that created the adolescent kamikaze. American GIs realized just how different our system was when they liberated Japanese and German concentrations camps.

In 2025, we have the greatest volunteer military on the planet. It remains rather small, in comparison to the size of our population. We honor these men and women for volunteering to protect the rest of us. We have much to be thankful for in the technological sophistication and intense training that makes the U.S. military respected, and feared, around the globe.

But if we were attacked—if we experienced our own Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 2025—would we see the same resolution among the young men and women of Gens Y and Z? A Gallup poll from last year reported that only 32% of Europeans, 41% of Americans, and 34% of Canadians were willing to fight even if their country was attacked. Furthermore, despite Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and repeated violations of the sovereignty of multiple NATO countries and their neighbors, many European countries such as Spain, Italy, and Portugal continue to refuse to bring their defense spending up to NATO’s required 2%.

Many Western European young people are ashamed of their national histories, having been taught a neo-Marxist lie. Worryingly, many young Americans seem to be following suit, and it undermines patriotism and a willingness to defend one’s neighbors and way of life.

What is that lie? The lie of contemporary Marxism is that religion and Western philosophy are just the tools of elites to manipulate the masses, and that all of today’s wealth was not created by innovation, excellence, education, and sound governance, but rather through the plundering of others. Another falsehood: America is not a force for good but a rapacious colonial power, like its European allies.

Of course, the neo-Marxist thesis does not hold up to historical scrutiny, but do facts matter when the young are indoctrinated in this anti-faith, anti-family, anti-human ideology in public institutions from kindergarten forward?

Where to begin to turn back this tide? The place to start is with the natural gratitude that springs from Veterans Day and the Thanksgiving season.

Americans should begin by counting our blessings, and that includes the blessings of ordered liberty and those who have defended it in the past. We do not need a national catastrophe to begin the work of re-orienting our families, schools, and other institutions toward an appropriate patriotism, one that glories in the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and is honest about how Americans had to overcome major shortcomings in our past. We should follow the lead of states such as Florida and Arizona that are rooting out phony, anti-American instruction in our schools. We should point to the blessings and opportunities provided by a free market, democratic system that creates prosperity and opportunity.

All of us should be looking for public ways to demonstrate e pluribus unum in front of our children and teens, so they understand that they are the next link in this chain of national unity. And we should take every opportunity to thank those, especially but not limited to our military veterans, for their contributions to the health and well-being of our communities and our country.