A TIME TO REMEMBER

Memorial Day is not a time to celebrate our freedoms; but, to remember and pay homage and respect to those who gave us those freedoms. We do not always understand what sacrifices, pain and suffering our veterans have gone through to insure we have what we have to understand our country is the greatest country on earth with the greatest freedoms ever experienced in the history of the world.

We pay our deepest respects and admiration to those who died in the performance of their duties or who were wounded in the performance of their duties. It makes no difference if they died in combat, training or by accident. They were doing their jobs as was required in the furtherance of the mission to keep our country free. We do not pay enough respect to those left behind with the loss of a loved one they have to bare the pain of the personal loss of one they loved. When I hear politicians giving speeches about how freedom is not free, I always think how much have they invested in the process? What dividends have they paid to get their speech in the papers?

The United States of America is not just a country, it is an idea. It is a belief and a way of life. If our nation is destroyed tomorrow will the destroyer ever be able to kill the idea that brought us into existence? No enemy of our nation will ever understand our strength or why we sacrifice ourselves so others can live without fear and promote the benefits of freedom.

There is a common bond between veterans of every nation and that is the bond of suffering. War is a measurement of how much suffering people can take and still survive. In the United States it goes back to the French and Indian Wars to the present. Veterans of all wars have been bonded together by the pain and suffering and the understanding of what we have all gone through. I wonder if the Army troops at Bastogne were any warmer or colder than those at Valley Forge, or the mountains of Korea, or the mountains of Afghanistan

Our country is now facing some of the worst threats in our history. Not only are we losing our moral compass; but, our understanding that we have to stand together and show the same level of courage in support of our country as our young men and women show in combat. Asking our politicians to show that same level of backbone is quite a task; to them I say “take your hands out of people’s wallets and put them over your heart”.

We hear people deny god and the bible that is their choice; but, in doing so denies the very movement that brought the pilgrims over on the Mayflower. It denies the very movement that brought our country into existence and gave us the moral compass to stand strong, free, compassionate, and independent.

To those of you who are veterans, gone and with us, I can only say THANK YOU for doing your job. To those of you who are families who have young men and women in the military I say thank you for doing such a great job raising such fine Americans. For those of you who have lost members of your families, I say THANK YOU, for sharing them with the greatest country in the world. The world is not a better place by their passing; but a better place because of their deeds. To those young men and women who are serving I say THANK YOU for being the greatest generation for, like all veterans, putting your life on line to defend our way of life.

It seems totally inadequate to say this; but, THANK YOU.