As you read this, I want you to take a moment of silence. A moment of reflection. Reminisce on what 9/11 means to you. We invite you to reflect on how we honor the lives that we lost on this day. You may know someone who lost a loved one, or you may have lost someone yourself. Maybe some part of you is lost because you witness firsthand what this day brought upon this country. It doesn’t matter how you remember this day, the important part, is that you never forget.

To make sure we honored this date properly, we created Veteran Voices. We ourselves cannot imagine what many veterans and people who are actively serving must experience in their line of work. We cannot assume either, so we rather let their voices shine through by highlighting all the Veterans of Clapper. We need to become better listeners and let them voice their opinions, stories, and struggles. Maybe by sharing their stories, in a way, we are honoring those who are not here to tell theirs.

This is not just about honor and showing respect, is also about making it easier for the community of veterans to find a safe space to speak out and get to know one another. Every Clapper creator who wrote “veteran” or “vet” on their bio, has received a blue ribbon. What started as a token for the campaign, transformed into a way for vets to find other vets and grown their community. Because of this moving response, we have decided to keep the ribbons. Everyone deserves to be able to find their people, their community, their family. By keeping these tokens, we are doing just that.

Here are some veterans using our hashtag to share opinions, their lives or letting the world know of their status as a veteran: