Californians will enjoy the Garden Grove Strawberry festival. Some will dance the night away at the Cajun Creole Music Festival. Still yet are the Greek Festivals, the annual Topanga day Country fair, the Annual Memorial day Street fair, and the Patriotic Memorial Day programs at the Forest Lawn.
The rest of the country will probably sit in front of their tv’s watching the Indy 500, or the NBA playoffs, maybe even watch College Baseball and Softball championship series games.
Some will barbecue in their backyards, inflate those rubber swimming pools and splash around with family members. Some may even take a much needed mini-vacation away from familiar surroundings and the demands of work.
Still, many people will see Memorial Day merely as a three-day weekend.
It is so much more than that.
It is a day that has been set aside to remember those who gave their lives for our country, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy.
William Roseman, a small town mayor, couldn’t have said it better.
“We have a job - and it is to remind those who do not remember . . .
That 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 campus organizer, who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the preacher, who has given us the Freedom of Religion.
It is the soldier, who serves beneath the Flag, who salutes the Flag, whose coffin is draped by the Flag, who allows the PROTESTER to burn the Flag.
It is the soldier, not the politician, who has given his blood, his body, his life, who has given us these Freedoms.
And it is the soldier who has given us the privilege to sleep safely in our homes and to hold our children warm within our arms.
It is the greatest crime that it is only war that brings peace and it is the greatest sacrifice that men and women were struck in the prime of their lives so that we might enjoy such freedoms.
It is for we the living to prove that we are worthy of their sacrifice through dedication toward this hard fought peace that was purchased by these honored dead.”
Have you thanked a soldier or their families lately?
God Bless.
2 comments:
Thank you for your service in Desert Storm.
dear noel...you and mrs. mac's son patrick are heros to me and i would like to thank you even though i am canadian...your forever friend.
i wish you would drop me a line and tell me how you are really doing....love terry
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