In the Ensuing Panic

Today, I slept in late because I don’t have work. Many people will be having barbecues and picnics. Some will be thanking our veterans or visiting the graves of their loved ones who died on our behalf. Others will hit the stores to take advantage of the sales. However you choose to celebrate the holiday, remember those who have sponsored your freedom of choice:

Those lying in honored state in the Tomb of the Unknowns and those lying unburied, but not unmourned in forests, jungles and deserts.

Those enshrined in the USS Arizona and those lost at the bottom of the sea in places known only to God.

Those who came home to die in hospitals of their wounds and those who died under torture, refusing to the end to give up secrets that would endanger our nation and freedom.

Those whose families had the opportunity to bury them and those whose bodies will not be seen until the last day.

Those of my son’s friends who died in Afghanistan and those of my father’s who died in Vietnam.

Those who died with comrades rushing to render aid that arrived too late and those who fought on knowing that no help was coming in response to their pleas.

These and others whose manner of serving in death I do not know of sponsored our way of life. They gave everything so that we could have everything. Every day, others stand ready to give their lives to defend the greatest nation and best way of life this planet has ever seen. We have our flaws, but still no one has found a better way. God bless America!