Freedom never was free. History and Memorial Day both remind us of that.
The liberty we Americans casually take for granted carries a cost that often reaches heaven. A toll invariably measured in treasure, suffering and blood.
If we look around this weekend, or at any other time, we can readily see that the price is still well worth it. We worship as we wish; we can loudly denigrate our government and its leaders; we can protest; we can agitate for change. The list goes on. We have choices that boggle the minds of many in this troubled world for whom freedom is merely an abstract dream, not a 24/7, hands-on reality.
All of which has been ensured across the centuries by the ongoing service and sacrifice of America’s military members. That’s worth recalling and celebrating this Memorial Day weekend.
It should be impossible to forget in an era when terrorism’s adherents continue to engage in a violent game of hopscotch across the globe. The battle against it shows no sign of ending.
Our servicepeople’s gift to us should not be overlooked in this 70th anniversary year of the end of World War II. The year 1945 brought the death of Adolf Hitler and the end of a terribly costly, worldwide conflict. Americans made sure then that the right side prevailed and that freedom would endure.
Those who paid with their lives to keep liberty alive are worth our remembrances this weekend, even while we joyously celebrate a holiday weekend’s leisure activities. Doing both, in a way, perhaps best honors the ideals that our fallen servicepeople lived, and died, for.
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