Memorial Day 2006

Gettysburg, Yorktown, Alaska, Pearl Harbor, Sicily, Normandy, Paris, Bastonge, Guam, Midway, Africa, Korea, Vietnam, Kabul, Tikrit....

These are just a handful of places that men and women of this great country gave their lives so we might live free! They gave with honor, wanting nothing in return, they might not have agreed with the action, the President, the Congress or public opinion of the time. They agreed with our Founding Fathers, and the Freedoms they believed in and the country they created out of a wilderness of monarchy, chaos and oppression. They stood on the front line and said "No Further!" and stopped them. They might have fallen when the first bullet flew or survived until the last. In the end it is us that see the end result of their sacrifices. Never will they see the fruits of their labor, the freedoms they saved, the lives that can be because of them.

If they can see us today, I do not think they would be happy at what we've become. How we lie to each other for political means, how we disrespect the Office of the President. How both parties bend the truth to serve them, and what one cried as foul 4 years ago is now fair and how one would tear down an opponent rather than answer a direct question.

While I think they would be disappointed on how things have turned out, I have no doubt in my mind that they would would still lay down their lives even if they knew the future.

Remember these men and women and the opportunity they have given us to live in a free society. And take a moment next time and make choices they would be proud of.