Duty, Honor, Country!

As we spend the three-day weekend enjoying the rights and privileges that we so often take for granted, let's pause to remember those who have bought our freedom with their blood. From before the United States became an independent nation, there have been those willing to fight and die, if necessary, to gain and secure the liberty we have come to expect.

Seldom do most of us consider that America is unique, that Americans enjoy privileges only dreamed about in most of the world. That did not just happen. The inhabitants of the colonies did not wake up one morning and read in the paper, while they sipped their coffee, that the King of England had granted them freedom and independence.

These men and women saw an opportunity to enjoy a level of freedom that could only be gained at great cost. They weighed the cost and decided it was worth the hoped-for benefit. Independence and freedom from England was not guaranteed, in fact it was not even probable. Through much of the War for Independence, it appeared that England would be victorious.

Read the following quotes (copied from the website at PatriotPost.US - This site has a wealth of very good information about our country, documents, fight to keep our liberty, etc.):

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin) ·
"A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." (John Adams) ·
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." (Thomas Jefferson) ·
"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." (Thomas Paine) · "It does not take a majority to prevail...but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. ... If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" (Samuel Adams) ·
"Give me liberty or give me death!" (Patrick Henry) ·
"Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!" (George Washington)

The Declaration of Independence concludes with the following sentence:

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

The 56 men who then applied their signatures to that document meant every word of this pledge. Some lost their lives, it cost others all they had; but, they held onto their honor and eventually won their freedom.

Since that time, Americans have viewed freedom as something worth fighting for. Many have laid down their lives to protect and defend freedom for America and many more have died fighting for the freedom of others around the world.

Memorial Day is one day each year when we as Americans should remember those who gave us what we have. Thousands upon thousands of men and women have shed their blood for our freedom.

Currently, our armed forces are fighting in other countries. This past week, another milestone has been reached in one of these wars. We have now lost 1,000 American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. 1,000! We can read the headline announcing this fact and proceed on to other stories more interesting, or we can stop and say a prayer for our fighting men and women and ask God to protect them and bring them home safe. We can pray for the families of these 1,000 soldiers, that God, in all of his love and mercy, will grant them some measure of peace. This is just the latest 1,000 - on top of the many 1,000's who have been laid to rest.

Below are 1,000 dots. Each one represents one soldier killed in Afghanistan over the past few years. Each of them volunteered for the military. Not one single one of them were drafted and forced to serve. Each one has a name. Each one has lived a real life, though brief in endurance. Each one left behind family who loved them - parents, siblings, some spouses and some children.

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God bless American and those who fight to defend her! Thank you!