“All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” American Declaration of Independence, right? Yes and no. That statement is a part of the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam against Japan and France.

Yes, it was borrowed, but the ideals are not borrowed. They are fundamental truths that if humans are given the right to rule themselves, less ambiguous realties occur. People take care of themselves and they do not punish themselves unrealistically for monetary gain. People prefer happiness over agony.

Some of the greatest supporters of human rights were also soldiers. There is no need to list them. You can look them up by the droves. Some stand out as national heroes and are forever in the eyes of historians such as Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower. But leave the word hero out of the formula. Eisenhower is revered on American soil and despised by not just a few Japanese.

Perception is created by political actions muted by forgotten facts and reinvented by those who want the general populace to believe in certain things even if they might not be true. The facts? Eisenhower was a person endowed by his creator with certain inalienable rights. The rest is history and history tends to be written by those in control of power.

As of December 31, 2009 1,421,668 people are on active duty. That’s a quote from Wikipedia. Did you notice they used the word people? One retired American colonel fought in the Vietnam War. He was a helicopter pilot. He was shot down three times and walked away. You could make this man into a hero. He has all the stats but he is an unknown. The reality is that he is a very good man. He grew up in a small Idaho town, ran on the track team and had a family. People. You can find reflections of him in Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Columbia, and Russia. Vets are people created with certain inalienable rights. Don’t let political views mute that fact.