Posted by Tom Tolman :: November 10, 2007 @ 5:44 am

This weekend we celebrate Veterans Day - an American holiday honoring military veterans for their contributions and sacrifices for national security. The holiday is also known as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day and celebrated by several other countries on November 11th as well. It is the day that marked the end of World War I in 1918.

When Lending Club asked me to author a Veterans Day post, I knew I wanted to share a song written by Terry Kelly eight years ago.

Kelly is a blind singer, songwriter, speaker and entertainer. On November 11, 1999 he was in a grocery store in Canada. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store's intercom asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to veterans.

When eleven o'clock arrived, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of one man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry's anger towards the father for trying to engage the store's clerk in conversation and for setting a poor example for his child was later channeled into the song called, "A Pittance of Time". (Watch the video on YouTube.)

Here's a selection of the lyrics:

But two minutes I will bide
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time

Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It's a pittance of time

Terry wrote this song before 9/11 when fewer soldiers were deployed. Now, well over a million U.S. soldiers have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am in the Armed Forces and have recently returned from a third overseas deployment. I have seen up close the sacrifices that soldiers and their families have recently made. Our young veterans are joining a long line of those who have proudly served in our country's wars in an effort to make the world a better, safer place to live.

I want to thank Lending Club for the invitation to recognize our veterans on the blog and I join with them in thanking our servicemen and women and their families for their sacrifices.