Covenants are often phrased in terms of expectations. That is the sacred promise aspect of them. Think of that childhood vow of “cross my heart and I hope to die.” Covenants are not childish. At least, they should not be taken that way. Two people enter a covenant of marriage when they exchange marriage vows. It does not matter if they are man and woman, or the same gender. The promise carries the same weight of commitment. When politicians are elected, they are sworn in and make vows that should be covenants between themselves and the people in the community, state, or nation they are representing, rather than distant political benefactors. If they fall short of this, and act as prostitutes for their “Johns,” they have broken their covenants. In theological parlance, perhaps some of them need to be “called to repentance” on this.

One of the most significant covenants that we make with one another occurs when people go off to serve our nation in battle. (It can also be said that a similar covenant exists between those who serve our local communities by fighting fires or police officers who are protecting us from harm.) If these people are injured or suffer long-term disabilities because they have been serving us, then it is our responsibility to provide for their care. I have used a period at the end of this sentence because a covenant is not something that we equivocate or try to avoid. Regardless of whether it means raising taxes or cutting funding for other programs, a covenant is a moral commitment that must not be discounted, cheapened, or spurned. As anyone who has been following the problems with our Veterans Administration healthcare system must acknowledge, we are dealing with a broken covenant between our nation and its veterans.

This should not be a partisan debate. Neither political party has a pristine history when it has come to the crisis and the broken covenant with our veterans. When a nation commits itself to sending its men and women into battle, it has a moral obligation to pay for all of the wounds that they incur, whether they are physical or psychological. Regardless of how long we think a war should last, the wounds of the returning endure without adhering to a schedule. I emphasize including psychological because there is so much controversy now over the efforts made to bring Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl home from Afghanistan. Who among us, particularly those who have not served, has the moral power to stand in judgment of him? Perhaps those who are rushing to judge him should take the next plane to Afghanistan.

War is hideous. Its effects upon those who participate in it often last long after someone has returned. Contemporaries of mine who served in Vietnam still talk about post-traumatic stress disorder. There is a long history of it, dating back at least to what was then called “The Great War,” when some men returned with what was called “shell shock.” This year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of “The Great War.” It was also called “The War to End All Wars,” and then eventually, The First World War, when a second one erupted slightly more than 20 years after its last shots had been fired. Obviously, humanity did not learn its lesson. Wars have not ended. They still have not.

Neither should our covenant with those who go off to fight wars in our name. It is not our place to judge their efforts. While we may recognize those who have served with particular valor, and add to the compensation for those who have borne particularly grave and irreparable wounds, it is arrogant and callous to withhold care from those who have come home wounded physically, or unable to function in our society.

When a man or woman puts her or his life on the line for their country, he or she should never have to fear that he or she will be forced to live on the streets, or go without medical care. The inmates in our corrections systems have at least these needs provided for them. Our veterans deserve no less. If we provide for anything less than these needs, as well as the right to vote on who decides whether to send others to another war zone, we have broken our covenant with them. This we cannot do.