Memorial Day: Freedom is Not Free

(Image from the Korean War Memorial)

Today many Americans will be enjoying a day off from work by grilling out, lounging at the beach, and playing with their children.  

Today, many families will also be mourning the loss of loved ones - brave men and women who answered their country's highest calling - and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.  War is hell and yet many of our country's best citizens have volunteered to face it head on.  They left their families for months and years at a time, experienced grueling training, physical and psychological hardships, and witnessed their friends get injured or worse.  They did all of this and so much more to make sure the fight against evil and tyranny was faced elsewhere - to make sure their families didn't have to face these struggles.  

Today, we mourn and celebrate the lives of the brave soldiers who didn't come back home.  They served their country as soldiers, but were also called son, daughter, brother, sister, father, and mother.  They were someone's best friend. They were someone's husband, someone's wife. 

Today, let's enjoy our cook-outs.  Let's enjoy the beach. Let's enjoy time spent with friends and family.  Let's enjoy our freedoms and remember that freedom is not free - that those soldiers paid a heavy price for it and that their surviving family members pay that price on a daily basis.  

Thank you to all who have served and to the families who shared your loved ones with an entire nation.