America's Veteran's Day can be a time "devoted ... to sticking out our chests in the pride of our past," the Rev. Nicholas J. Reid said during Monday morning's Veteran's Day Mass at St. Peter Catholic Church.
But it really should be "geared more towards tipping our caps, bowing our heads to whisper prayers of thanksgiving to God, to offer words of comfort to the grief-stricken," he said, "(and) to remember that the American Dream comes at a cost."
That cost is sacrifice - not just of lives, but of time and, sometimes, personal relationships, Reid and Missouri National Guard Lt. Col. Rebecca Segovia both said, in two separate Veteran's Day services.
In her remarks to the annual Veteran's Day Program at the Capitol, Segovia noted the day "is not a celebration of victory but, rather a celebration of those who made victory possible."