Memorial Day

Never in the history of the world has anyone sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than has the American Soldier. Our Soldiers don’t just provide freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

"It is the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag; it is that Soldier who gives the protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.”

~~ Zell Miller in a speech to the Republican National Convention

*****

I stood up.
I stepped forward.
I raised my right hand.
I stood in the gap.
I walked in the fire.
I did not run.
I did not hide.
I did not evade.

Consequently...

I have nothing to prove.
I have no one to convince.
Those who matter, already know.
Those who don't, never will.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

*****

This video is not only for those buried in Arlington, but for those whose earthly resting place is anywhere in the world; in cemeteries or in lone graves, marked and unmarked, in places that once were battlefields and war zones. It is especially for those who rest in unmarked places known only to God.

An American veteran, whether active duty, reserve, retired or deceased, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America, for an amount of "up to and including my life." There is no way to properly honor that kind of duty but in my own humble way, I salute you. Thank you, American Soldier. You have always been my hero.