Today we celebrate, if that is the right word, Memorial Day. Perhaps “observe” is a better descriptor of our actions and thoughts today.
Our freedom isn’t free. Sadly, it is purchased with the blood of patriots, brave military men and women who put their lives on the line to secure and defend it.
Remembering their sacrifice reminds us of the precariousness of human liberty. Those who would circumscribe liberty pop up like weeds after a rain. And like the never ending chore of weeding, defending our liberties goes on and on.
There’s never a time when we can dust our hands together and say, “Well, that’s done.” Those who covet what we have, or resent our success, or simply adhere to alternative explanations of reality are ever present and threatening.
In a quote variously ascribed to George Orwell, Rudyard Kipling or Winston Churchill:
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.On Memorial Day, we honor their efforts and their sacrifices.
