Memorial Day

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great Memorial Day. Today we honor those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom... and those that continue to believe in this great nation enough to put their lives on hold and in harms way to defend our way of life. As I posted in a previous blog post honoring our military... they fight so we don't have to. As we sit comfortably in our homes, they willingly face unspeakable dangers, half a world away. We plan vacations, they plan the next enemy assault. The nation is nearly put on hold for Michael Jackson's funeral, media obsesses over celebrity break ups, scandals, and deaths, yet the soldiers that pay the ultimate price are only a statistic on the six o'clock news.

If you enjoy being able to speak your mind, thank a soldier. If you enjoy being able to pray to the God you believe in, thank a soldier. If you enjoy being able to assemble peaceably, thank a soldier. If you appreciate the right to bear arms, thank a soldier. For every personal freedom we take for granted every day, we can thank America's finest.

I'll post again a quote I found on a Facebook fan page...

Remember,

It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the organizer,
Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

And I'm going to quote my cousin, Mike Fellows: "It is empty to praise the courage of those who paid the ultimate price for our Freedom and yet lack the courage to defend the principles upon which Freedom rests with our own lives."

To our servicemen and women, past and present, and to the families of those who have lost a loved one in defense of our nation... thank you, and God bless.

May others have the same courage to protect the ideals that made America great.