What Did They Die For? This Memorial Day Let's Pause to Reflect and Honor
Every year I publish this article. I wonder if I'm being lazy for not being more creative or if we as a Nation are not doing enough to come together and show the true respect and honor our fallen heroes deserve. Unfortunately, we are more divided than ever. We argue about masks and statues and seem to forget the reason why our soldiers fought and died for this Country.
Do you know that feeling when you just finished mopping the floor and someone walks in with mud on their shoes? The feeling when you just finished writing an article and your printer runs out of ink; or the same feeling you get when you fight so hard to come back in a game, only to lose it in the last seconds on a hail mary? I often wonder how the brave men and women who fought and died to defend our Country would feel if they knew that some of the very principals that they fought so hard to defend aren’t being taken seriously.
For me the real way to honor the men and women who fought so bravely to protect our freedom and our way of life, is to respect what they were fighting for in the first place. It’s easy to hang a flag, and post various patriotic images on our social media pages, but are we really honoring the hard work and sacrifice made by our heroes?
The best way for us to honor the fallen this Memorial Day is to respect and fight for the liberties at home that they risked their lives to protect overseas. Basic principles like “all men and women are created equal”, “freedom of speech”, “freedom of religion”, the “pursuit of the American Dream”, and yes even “the pursuit of happiness” are all principals, amongst others, that our military fought and died to protect. THESE FREEDOMS MUST BE WORTH PROTECTING EVEN WHEN IT DOESN'T FALL IN LINE WITH YOUR FAVORITE POLITICAL CANDIDATE OR PARTY.
This Memorial Day, let’s remember the best way to honor those who died to protect our freedom is to respect those liberties and ideals that they fought so hard to protect. I personally would like to thank and support our Veterans by asking our elected officials to appropriate real funding to the Veterans. Let’s not insult them any longer by just giving them lip service. No Veteran should ever have to come home after defending our Country and need to beg for food and money. Regardless of political affiliation, we can all agree, that it is time to honor true sacrifice. Thank you to all the brave men and women who have served America.
