When you think of soldiers and veterans, most people typically think of tough, muscular men, but one Navy veteran is reminding everyone that men are not the only people who bravely serve our country.
Rebecca Landis Hayes comes from a family full of service members, and like her father, uncle, and grandfather, she decided to serve her country by joining the Navy. Hayes has since retired after serving in the Navy for 8 years, which is why she thought it would be fine if she parked in a ‘veterans only‘ spot while stopping quickly at the grocery store.
When Hayes returned to her car just a few minutes later, however, she found a nasty note on her windshield that read: “This parking is for Veterans, lady. Learn to read & have some respect.”
“I know I parked in one of the Veteran Parking spaces today, it was hot,” Hayes wrote in a post to Facebook, which has gone viral. “I had been in and out of my car several times already this afternoon, and I was only going to be a minute. Besides, the parking lot was full, so I just did it. It was the first time, and I won’t do it again. I’m sorry…”
“I’m sorry that you can’t see my eight years of service in the United Sates Navy,” she wrote. “I’m sorry that your narrow misogynistic world view can’t conceive of the fact that there are female Veterans. I’m sorry that I have to explain myself to people like you.”
“Mostly, I’m sorry that we didn’t get a chance to have this conversation face to face, and that you didn’t have the integrity and intestinal fortitude to identify yourself, qualities the military emphasizes.”
“My disappointment was that I still had to defend or explain myself as a female veteran, that my husband who is an Army vet parks in the spaces all the time and never has ever had a problem, and that on the one occasion I decided to park there, I was harassed about it,” Hayes said.
Would you assume the same if you saw a woman parking in a ‘veterans only’ spot? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image: aol]
Female Navy Veteran Gets Nasty Note For Using ‘Veteran Only’ Parking Spot is an article from: LifeDaily