As a disabled us veteran, I would trade the weird obligatory lip service and being used as a prop for politicians who then cut va funding year over year for fully funded veteran services 1000%.
It makes me uncomfortable when someone says “thank you for your service” I get it, they respect it, and don’t know what to say, I just don’t really know how to respond to it. You’re welcome? That seems fucked up on a lot of levels. No problem? Ehhh there’s problems. Like, wtf do you say to that? I haven’t found a response that I’m comfortable with.
Yeah there’s a really interesting difference up here in Canada, where when someone says they served we* tend to say we’re sorry they went through that, ask how are they doing now, etc. It’s not the worship I see done down in the US (that seems to end the moment the VA is mentioned).
(*Does not apply in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba.)
Or…
How about just not putting your military personal up on some kind of weird worship pedestal?
You can be thankful to people for being Paramedics, Firefighters, hell even social workers.
There’s tons of people that get paid to put their life on the line.
As a disabled us veteran, I would trade the weird obligatory lip service and being used as a prop for politicians who then cut va funding year over year for fully funded veteran services 1000%.
It makes me uncomfortable when someone says “thank you for your service” I get it, they respect it, and don’t know what to say, I just don’t really know how to respond to it. You’re welcome? That seems fucked up on a lot of levels. No problem? Ehhh there’s problems. Like, wtf do you say to that? I haven’t found a response that I’m comfortable with.
I just go with “thanks for paying your taxes”
Yeah there’s a really interesting difference up here in Canada, where when someone says they served we* tend to say we’re sorry they went through that, ask how are they doing now, etc. It’s not the worship I see done down in the US (that seems to end the moment the VA is mentioned).
(*Does not apply in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba.)