How would you feel if you risked your life and came home to hatred and disrespect? Today I am here to talk to everyone about how disrespected the veterans from our military are.

I have grown up in a military family and am hurt whenever I see or hear about someone disrespecting the people who give their lives for people who hate them. My father is a Marine, my uncle was in the Army, my other uncle was in the Air Force, my grandfather was in the Navy, and my other grandfather was in the Coast Guard. My best friend is also in the Army. These people are some of the hardest working, most focused individuals.

I am sick of logging onto social media sites to see people casually post how horrible veterans are because they had to kill people. Without reading an entire article, people post negative stories about the military without knowing the entire story. The military doesn’t care about how much everyone hates them, they still risk their lives for you.

But we already have the tools that can help us work on this issue. We have compassion and the ability to care about them as much as they care about us.

When you see a veteran, or active service person, make them feel welcome. Thank them for their service and treat them with respect. I need you to help out when you see a veteran who needs help.

This is important to all of us because we wouldn’t want to risk our lives for people who don’t care.

Thank you,

Derek Webster,

Bothell