A Thankful and Thoughtful Memorial Day

This post is made with my sincere thanks to those who have given their lives in the service of freedom.

Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and all the others in which We the People have been privileged to engage over the last 200+ years. All these freedoms, which are dependent on the character of a responsible and informed public to maintain. Freedoms, maintained by a (mostly) volunteer military force. This voluntary service is, in many ways. the essence of a free republic.

The freedom to bear arms is nothing more than a reassurance to our military and our countrymen that, should it be necessary, the citizenry can and will take up arms to defend our nation when and where the military may not be enough. It is to our credit that the armed services of this nation have proved more than adequate to meet the military needs of the United States to this point in history.

May we, as a nation, on this Memorial Day, rededicate ourselves to the maintenance of the freedoms so many have died to preserve. May we bestir ourselves to study our founding documents and light anew the brush fires of freedom in the hearts of men and women across this nation. And may we recognize that if we do not preserve our freedom here, it will not be found elsewhere.

Let us recognize that freedom includes the freedom to fail and to fail spectacularly.

Let us remember that silence is cowardice where speech is stifled.

Let us remember that responsibility is the shared duty of the people of a free republic.

And let us remember that Freedom is never free and that this day is for the remembrance of those who paid for these freedoms of ours in blood.

"They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits -- not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."~Ronald Reagan

"Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. "~ Psalm 90:15