My best friend, Justin, is in the Navy. He signed up in December of 1998. Justin was so excited when he told me he had joined.

I remember the way his eyes lit up, the conviction in his voice and how proud he was to be doing something that he felt to be worthwhile.

I remember being upset with him for enlisting.

At the time, it genuinely seemed like a good idea. He was making an investment in his future.

He was taking what he believed to be the best course of action for himself.

He could not have foreseen the horrendous actions that took place within our borders on Sept. 11, 2001.

He could not have foreseen being in lockdown on his ship due to the heightened threat to our security.

He could not have foreseen anxiously waiting to hear the news that might announce that his ship would be deployed for Afghanistan posthaste.

He could not have foreseen spending months at a time at the bottom of a boat, hardly seeing the sun, ensuring that all systems were go aboard his ship.

My friend is one of thousands of young men and women who serve our country in any given branch of the military. His story is not unlike a long list of others.

I cannot ignore the fact that Sept. 11 was yesterday. Our generation’s day of infamy came and went again.

And while I am a student at a university, attending classes in air-conditioned buildings and sleeping soundly in a dorm room with almost every luxury, there are those who sleep in hard bunks or cots and can only dream of the day that they can come home and sleep in their own beds.

I do not envy them. For the life of me, I would not place myself in their situation.

But I do respect them. And because of that, I support them.

I must support the fact that people our age have traded the luxuries that we have here at Loyola for innumerable reasons, be it to protect the United States or to earn a little extra cash for their college degrees.

There exists an idea in Judaism that I was taught years ago. The idea is called tikkun olam. When translated, it means “to save the world.” As a Jew, it is my responsibility to take part in tikkun olam as much as possible.

Our friends and family in the military are fulfilling this charge. They are doing what they can, to the best of their abilities, to save the world and possibly help eliminate a few of its evils.

Is this to say that I agree with the methodology? Absolutely not.

If we lived in a perfect world, there would be no need for war, for violence, or for my friend to spend months at a time in the middle of an ocean.

At this very solemn time of the year, I find it quite fitting to pay tribute to our troops.

It is they who fulfill the demands of their commanders, protect the needs of our nation and, to paraphrase Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men,” provide the very blanket of freedom under which we sleep.

I can only hope that they will soon return home to sleep under that blanket.