A gray Veterans Day

Today was typical weather for Veterans Day - cold, wet and gray.  For the first time, while making my way about the city, I did not encounter any veterans offering poppies in return for a donation to the VFW.  Perhaps that custom is dying out.  Now I make donations on Veterans Day and Memorial Day to an organization called Homes for Our Troops, which builds or remodels homes to meet the needs of those disabled by war.  I like knowing that today's veterans meet with compassion and appreciation, unlike the veterans of Vietnam, the war that affected my own life and that of my generation.