I don't mind the platitude any more than, say, "Sorry for your loss...".
When I use the expression, I mean it sincerely, and I give those who render it to me the benefit of the doubt.
We are, after all, talking about a compliment. Growing up, I was taught to be grateful for compliments. Coming home, about the only compliment I received was some sort of taunt, and/or getting spit on, in my uniform. In some ways, getting misused for doing the right thing is very little removed from our own currently being harassed for exercising our Second Amendment Rights. In large part, it's even being done by mostly the very same people.
After marching across the Brooklyn Bridge with thousands of my comrades, the expression began appearing spontaneously. It brought a sense of relief and acceptance that I had not felt before. It may have been instrumental in helping me cope with my PTSD, which was pretty rampant at the time.
The phrase has become hackneyed over time, and some have taken to uttering it simply as a reflex, rather than as a conscious thought; sorta like Gesundheidt. Either way it pleases this recipient that someone noticed and was polite about it. If it makes them feel better, what of it? I always respond in kind. I do it because I was raised to be polite when not doing so earned one a swift swat.
Some time back I began to think this was getting old and considered removing the service cap from my attire. But continued thought led me to leave these things alone. There was no good reason to do it, IMHO.
I also considered uttering some of the wisecracks I see here. After some thought, I took that as me being rude, insulting, and ungracious.
A single simple compliment to an entire class of people that is rudely/crudely rebuffed can have significant effects, ripple effects, among all witnesses. It can reverse, in an instant, the long process Vets like myself had gone through leading up to our long overdue final acceptance as positive and deserving members of this society.
So if it costs individuals here too much to be polite in the midst of a compliment, I recognize and accept that they are exercising rights that we all strive to support. I just think that their form of exercise could be somewhat opposed to the way I had hoped those rights would be exercised. Good thing their exercise doesn't need conform to my way of thinking. A right is a right, and when we begin splitting hairs about how one exercises those rights, we are defeating our own purpose.
Greg
