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Today is Veterans Day.

There will be many people today who will realize this fact sometime mid-morning. They will acknowledge it without much of a second thought. And then will move on with their day.

Maybe these individuals do not believe we should be at war with Afghanistan or Iraq. Maybe they have never had a family member serve in our country’s Armed Forces. Maybe some of them are simply detached from current events. Maybe others have forgotten the history lessons they learned in grade school.

For whatever reason, the significance of today will not register with a great many people in our country.

And this is a shame.

Because Veterans Day is a day for all Americans. It is quintessentially American.

Veterans Day should be a day set aside for remembrance and awareness.

Remembrance is about the past. We should remember the young men and women of yesterday . . . those who gave greatly in service of something so much bigger than themselves, whether that service was meted out on Normandy or Omaha Beaches, on islands named Tarawa or Iwo Jima, at the Chosin Resevoir or the Que-Son Valley, or whether the service occurred in munitions factories in Birmingham, St. Louis, and Cleveland.

Let us remember . . .

These men and women are our grandfathers and grandmothers. Our fathers and mothers. Time makes it hard for us to personalize their experiences. Their service seems mythical. We are detached from its reality. But remember, most of them were mere children when they devoted their lives to serving our country. 18-year-old boys rolling into Paris on tanks, liberators. 22-year-old nurses running triage in steamy medical tents in the jungles of Vietnam.

Remember their service today. Remember with them. If you have the chance, call your grandparents or your parents and ask them to tell you stories of their service. It’s the least you can do for the sacrifice they willingly made.

But today is also about awareness. The awareness of the thousands of men and women serving in warzones on the other side of the world. These men are husbands, sons, brothers, fathers. These women are daughters, wives, sisters, mothers. And they are serving on their own accord. They volunteered for this . . .

Let us be aware today . . .

There is room for discussion about just war. There is room for criticism of policy. There is room for philosophical discussion about diplomacy.

But today, separate your feelings about politics from your admiration of those in our armed services. These people may be the tip of the spear (a spear wielded by diplomats safely tucked away in sterile conference rooms). But they all have names. They are people. And every one of them has willingly committed to sacrificially give themselves to the service of the common good. Few among us can say he or she has made such a sacrifice.

Remember today those who fought and those who died in service of our country.

Be aware today those who at this moment are serving at the behest of this country.

And if you can find it in your heart to do so, learn from their willing sacrifice.