November 11, 2013, Dallas, Texas – Today is Veterans Day and in their honor, I am pleased to write a note to appreciate their services. I participated in the parade last year and I might not be able to do that this year due to my health. However, I thank them for the putting their lives on line to protect our God given freedom.
I will be participating in the Annual Veterans Homeless dinner on Thursday, November 21 and will be speaking at the Veterans Resource Center on Lancaster Road in Dallas, and share pluralism prayers and our commitment to the safety, unity and security of America.
Will be honoring my friend Everett A. Blauvelt, a WWII Veteran.
God bless America
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“Mike, The Homeless Annual Dinner
is on Thursday, November 21st. The opening remarks will start at
11:30, so hope to see you there at about 11:15. The dinner will be at the
Veterans Resource Center (VRC) on Lancaster Rd. down the block from the VA
hospital; I think that is where was last year when you participated as well.
There will be a color guard ceremony, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Nat’l
Anthem, Welcome by Peter Dancey (our Associate Director at VA North Texas) and
others. Dr. Cunningham, our Homeless Domiciliary director, will then give
instructions for how the veterans will proceed through the serving line and,
before they begin to line up, pause for the Blessings. You, I and a Rabbi from
the Jewish War Veterans (sorry I don’t have his name yet) will work out the
order of Blessings and how we want to proceed, so if you can be there a little
early that will help us coordinate.
R. Lake
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I am thankful to our veterans, and the men and women in uniform, who risk their lives in defending our freedom and guarding our safety. I have always made a point to salute them, and certainly appreciate the Memorial Day. I have made trips to the DFW Airport to welcome the returning soldiers as well.
I am honored to be related to General Robert E Lee through my Son and Daughter, he is their great, great, great uncle through their mother and I have stopped at his statute in DC to pay my tribute to his heroic role in the civil war.
It was a joy to see this young man Syed Ghalib with his wife Ashreen Ghalib in the parade (top picture). Ghalib has served in the US Airforce in the mid to late nineties, indeed, he was one of the first Desi Kids (People from south Asia comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka) in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex to have served, I was proud of him then, and am proud of him now watching him march in the parade. At that time, I was a publisher of Asian News, a weekly magazine in Dallas and wrote about Ghalib on the front page. He is here again on my facebook and my blog, he is the headline picture in the parade for me, and the Immigrants from South Asia. I dedicate this note to all the veterans and Ghalib.
MikeGhouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace making, foreign policy, Islam, interfaith, and cohesion at work place or social settings. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a strong presence on national local TV, Radio and Print Media, and is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.