As a veteran and as a teacher of Humanities, I have come to realize over the long years of my working life that I am my brother’s keeper. I have a duty to my fellow human beings, not because of any law, but out of human compassion. Meaning arises not from what I have, but from what I do and what I have done in my life for others. There is enough suffering in the world. It is something we are all familiar with, something none of us escapes. The struggle is, and always has been, to find the meaning in it all.
It is my contention that meaning comes from the experience of facing suffering – our own or someone else’s – naming it, trying to understand how it came about, thinking of possible solutions and then acting upon those ideas to see how they work. In the case of this effort at The Veterans Site, the name of the problem is homelessness. Its causes for veterans are many and are beyond our control in the immediate moment, but we have come up with this unique solution to the immediate problem of hunger for those veterans who find themselves homeless on the streets of our cities.
We have established relationships with programs around the nation who are directly involved with homeless veterans, and with sponsors who are willing to support the financial end of our efforts to make healthy meals available to them on a daily basis. All that remains is your desire to help, and a daily visit to this site to hit the donation button, which will generate the financial support from our sponsors.
It is a simple as that, and as effective. This small action on your part, backed by your desire to help veterans in need, will have direct, positive implications in the lives of our veteran brothers and sisters.
Please join us in this effort to make a small but meaningful difference in the lives of homeless veterans. In helping others we help ourselves. That’s the economy of charity. It is in the giving that we receive. It is in serving others that we find deeper meaning in our own lives and in the lives of those we serve.
I hope you'll join me in becoming a volunteer in the campaign to build an education center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This facility will tell the stories and show the faces of the more than 58,000 brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.
