(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

On Veterans Day, there may be parades, ceremonies — even retailers and restaurants hoping to show their respect by offering discounts and deals to veterans, but how many truly pause long enough to consider the weight of what we honor on that day?

On the anniversary of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, we remember because the job done by those who served during World War I was too enormous to forget. We remember because those who have served in the U.S. military since that day have sacrificed for this country to a degree most of the rest simply cannot understand.

“All gave some; some gave all” fits nicely on a t-shirt, but even those words don’t do justice to what the men and women who serve in the military sign up to do for this country and those living in it.

Today’s oath of enlistment can give us a hint. Enlistees “solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same …” They take this oath knowing they may need support in fulfilling the oath as they add “So help me God.”

If the most you think about the holiday is that you’ll get a day off from work or school, veterans who served to give you the freedom to choose how you spend Tuesday might offer a “you’re welcome.”

Try not to forget them. Federal guidance for Veterans Day includes a two-minute period of silence starting at 2:11 p.m. Tuesday. If nothing else, you can give our military veterans that much. They’ve earned much, much more.

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“Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” — Ronald Reagan