Today, I am grateful for each and every patriot who has died in service to our great country.
"Perform, then, this one act of remembrance before this Day passes - Remember there is an army of defense and advance that never dies and never surrenders, but is increasingly recruited from the eternal sources of the American spirit and from the generations of American youth." ~W.J. Cameron
As George and I watched the televised Memorial Day concert in Washington last night, he said, "Watching this makes me feel bad." I asked why, and he said, "I don't feel like I did enough."
"I don't feel like I did enough." Think about the kind of person who feels this way about his twenty years of service. And realize that George is not alone. Millions have felt--and feel--just as he does.
Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it?
You did enough, honey. And so has every single person who was "recruited from the eternal sources of the American spirit." The men and women in uniform--from the American Revolution to the war in Afghanistan--signed up to serve, signed away their own personal freedom to choose what they do, where they live, and how they live to serve their country. Those whom we particularly honor today also signed away their lives. They gave more than enough, and their graves are watered by our grateful tears.
The True Meaning of Memorial Day
Very beautifully written. Please hug George for me and thank him.
ReplyDeletemy husband was in the Army for 10 years and, if given the chance, he would serve 50 more...and he wasn't even born in this country
ReplyDeleteWe forget. We go through our comfortable lives, host BBQs, shop the sales and...forget.
ReplyDeleteThere are thousands of families and loved ones who don't have that luxury, who remember every waking hour what the cost of service to country can be.
Thanks, my younger brother was killed in Viet Nam.
ReplyDeleteThank you, George. Thanks to all who enlisted, knowing full well they were going straight to a war zone, like my DH who served in Vietnam. And thanks to the uncle I never knew, who died in France in WWII, and his three brothers (including my dad) who were in Europe at the same time and survived. We remember.
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