And that reason isn’t a cookout. Nor is it a trip to the beach, or an amusement park. It’s not about going to the lake and celebrating the “first day of Summer”.
Today is to celebrate those that have made us free.
Today is for the people that left their lives, the wives and girlfriends, husbands and boyfriends, kids and kids to be and went off to war. They unselfishly put their country ahead of themselves. And they did so knowing full well of the dangers that they may not come back home. For the people we celebrate today, they didn’t come back home. They may have died in Europe, or southeast Asia, they may have died during a special mission in the Middle East. Maybe it was a Gulf War, or Afghanistan. Maybe they fought the Germans, or the Japanese, or the Taliban. It didn’t matter.
What mattered most to these heroes was the fact that they were preserving freedom for people they never met. The did it for people like you and me. And today is the day we set aside to remember them. And it would have been an abject travesty if today’s blog was about anything besides honoring these brave men and women.
I’ve told the story for years about one of the few and proud that gave their lives that I actually knew. I still to this day, some fifty odd years later think of him today. He was the son of a prominent family in our small town. He joined the Marines to fight in Vietnam, and he never came home. I weep still when I think of him because here was a person with so much of a bright future ahead of them. And just like the rest of his family, he put others first. He did it by joining the service. I admired his courage then, and I honor him every year on this day. He taught me a lot about life without ever knowing it. And he did it not for pay, not for the thanks, but so I could live free in the greatest country in the world…even with all of the garbage going on today.
So, before you light the grill, or put the boat in the water, or fill the backyard swimming pool, please take a few minutes. Gather the family together and explain to them why they don’t have to go to school or to work today. Maybe tell them about someone that you knew that didn’t come back from war. And let them know that their sacrifice, the greatest sacrifice they could give wasn’t in vain. It hasn’t been forgotten. And it is more than twenty seconds of Joe Biden placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It’s about real heroes, millions of them, who have always held out country and our freedom above all else.
God bless them and give them rest on this Memorial Day!
Carry on world…you’re dismissed!
The Lone Cactus 