Join Veterans Day observance and recommit to peace

The election is over, but now there is so much work to do. On Nov. 11, 2018, the “War To End All Wars” ended with an armistice. That war ended, but it has since been known as World War I, because World War II was soon to follow.

War did not end. But people celebrated the arrival of peace and observed Veterans Day for the following decades, “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.”

This year, Veterans For Peace sponsors a Veterans Day Observance at 11 a.m., on the 11th day of the 11th month. This is not a celebration of today’s peace. There is no peace in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan or Ukraine, to name only a few. Nuclear war is the closest it has been since the Cuban missile crisis. Anxiety here at home, fueled by partisan enmity and dystopian fears, threatens domestic peace.

So, the Veterans Day Observance at 11 a.m. on the Ped Mall will not be a celebration of existing peace. It will be a time to recommit ourselves to the hard work of peacemaking. Peace is precious and delicate, and it is so much more than the absence of war. If we believe that we are a country and community dedicated to peace, Monday would be a good time to demonstrate it. The public is welcome.

Ed Flaherty

President, Veterans for Peace #161

Iowa City