I feel the same way and I love it because it stems from a live and let live mentality. Which people will say they faught to protect but it's not true because I'd be me wether they did or didn't fight to sustain whatever values they think they're protecting. It's a personal matter to care. I'd have respect for someone directly taking a bullet for me, it's more personal. What if we weren't born before the vets who had to go? Or weren't of age? I feel like war has absolutely nothing to do with me and see all of it as something other people had to go through. It has nothing to do with me so why thank someone for doing nothing for me? This is like thanking some stranger 1000 years ago for fighting where it would eventually cause my birth, it's in the past where it belongs and the choice to fight on someone else's "behalf" is your fucking choice. I don't understand it or why I'm forced to live or remember someone else's path and what they did when it doesn't directly influence me. You can tell me it does or did influence me but it doesn't when I havnt been threatened. 9/11 was miles and miles away from me in a different country. Other people were threatened. I don't like people who agree to fight at all, without a direct threat that is encompassing an entire regime (9/11 was an isolated thing caused by few people), never mind fighting for a government with elusive motivations. The closest I can come to wanting to be thankful for people killing people is being sorry that they all thought they had to. Just because a government could tell me to go to war doesn't make me feel like I'm obligated to. If I were born into a nazi-world it wouldn't make much difference to me or anyone born into something they can't control so even me saying "I wouldn't want to be born in a nazi world" would make little difference as its out of my control and probably wouldn't care if I were, I'd go on about my day, wondering why people kill people for control. It's like - had a disagreement? Go to war. Need something your country can't produce? Go to war. Fuck off.