WHAT MEMORIAL DAY MEANS TO ME Please indulge me for a few moments to share what it means to be an American, who never had the opportunity, or the need to serve in the military. I come from a military family, brother, father, step-father and many others to varying degrees have served this Nation as far back as the Civil War from what I was able to find in my research. Many did so out of obligation to country, some did so because of need to provide to their immediate kin. ALL DID SO BECAUSE THEY KNEW THEY NEEDED TO! As many of you know, I am an avid supporter of those that serve us, from reserve to professional military, from veterans to active, I believe no matter what our Nation calls these Brave individuals to do in the name of our Freedom they seldom question their role to ALL OF US! WE OWE THEM A DEBT OF GRATITUDE AND RESPECT! As I get older, I have few regrets in my life, I have lived a full compliment of what talents that G-D has given me and have been blessed in so many ways. I am not a millionaire, and quite frankly, money is something that is necessary, but not my sole purpose for being on this planet. I look back at my accomplishments with pride and often wonder if those in my life now would have been there if my path took a different turn. I, way back when, wanted to go to Annapolis, to become a fighter pilot. Funny my father wanted and insisted, at one point, that I go into the Army and for some reason, neither were my calling! Why is that? Is it that if I followed the military life, I may not be here today to spew my rhetoric on how our government needs fixing, or that my son would never have been born, that I would meet my best friend and wife in Judi, or I would not have had the opportunity to touch others lives as a healer? Often I think of what would my life have become if I chose a life serving the Nation as a soldier, a truer patriot than one whose opinions are often disregarded as too conservative or too controversial. When my wife Judi and I visited the many historical sights in Virginia last week, I often looked at the many names on the graves of the fallen, thinking about what they had left behind...the wives, mothers, children, friends, coworkers...how all of their lives were forever changed by an act of patriotism, a war for Freedom, or a cause that seems today to have been good to some and not so to others. To imagine their last breath when hit by the enemy the final plea for help for their soul to reach what is beyond the veil. Some never saw it coming and, by the Grace of G-D, were spared the last thoughts of their mortality. But, to give ones life in service, whether it is for Oil or a rich mans war or a war for the freedom of a Nation or a class or race of people -......WE OWE THOSE WHO HAVE MADE THE HIGHEST AND MOST ULTIMATE SACRIFICE A DAY OF REMEMBERING...A DAY TO REFLECT, WITHOUT BIAS OR SCORN, WITHOUT WHAT THEY FOUGHT FOR, BUT THAT THEY FOUGHT, AND THAT WE DID NOT HAVE TO IN OUR LIVES...THAT WE CAN LIVE IN A WORLD THAT STILL STRUGGLES WITH THE INHUMANITY OF HUMANITY, THE FREEDOM EVER TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF TYRANNY AND THE NEED FOR HUMANS EVERYWHERE TO LIVE WITHOUT PREJUDICE, WITHOUT MALICE OF THOSE WHO WISH TO CONTROL AND CONQUER FOR THE SAKE OF THEIR DEVINE RIGHT TO DO SO BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY ARE BETTER, SMARTER, CHOSEN TO RULE OVER US. Please take this day, today or tomorrow to be proud and thankful of those who lie under stones of white, names and dates that seem distant to our busy lives and our self-indulgent ways and bless them with a prayer or a visit. Remember their families as they continue to struggle with the meaning of it all and be sure to shake the hand of a living veteran whos dreams may never have been fulfilled, who relive the loss of themselves due to war everyday and and those who have left pieces of themselves, mentally and physically, in every corner of our planet...not for them, but for us. For if we forget our history, we will be doomed to sacrifice many more of our sons and daughters in the next cause of Freedom. Thanks for listening and G-D BLESS ALL WHO SERVE! SEMPER FI AND SHIELDS HIGH!
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 00:37:40 +0000
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