There have been many calls for honoring our war heroes lately. Recently, there was a three-minute standing ovation, led by Donald Trump, for a Navy SEAL who lost his life in an intelligence raid on the Islamic State group. Locally, a war hero from nearly a hundred years ago (actually a banker-spy-soldier) was mentioned in the March 2 paper (“Fairfield honors fallen war hero”).

Just as an aside, I liked the banker-spy story. It goes to show the solid connection between banks and armies. You can actually predict troop movements through financial transactions.

Back to our heroes. I don’t have a problem honoring war heroes. I would like to see them honored in a way other than the traditional parades, statues and patriotic speeches, however.

Why don’t we start honoring war heroes by building an America that we all claim to be part of. We should welcome the stranger from another land who flees persecution; provide education for all, not just those who have the tuition money; promote democracy by not making it more difficult for citizens to vote by introducing road blocks like REAL I.D.; and promote democracy by nurturing a free press and not calling the press “the enemy of the people.”

We should keep our citizens informed through full disclosure of our leader’s actions and not hiding the truth under the guise of “national security,” treat all people fairly by paying living wages and not creating an underclass of those not worthy of living comfortably in a economically polarized society; and, in this day and age, provide health care to all that would ultimately benefit our whole society.

If you really want to honor those who fought and died, honor those principles that those heroes fought and died for.

Peter P. Sirois

Madison