LAND OF THE FREE -- HOME OF THE BRAVE
My grandfather sits today, like he sits most days, in a nursing home. He no longer knows who I am; his mind just doesn't work like it used to. But some how, it manages to make its way across some 60+ years, to days he spent in the service, fighting in the Pacific Theatre for freedom, for justice, for liberty, for his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He is a World War II veteran ... I salute him this Fourth of July.
There will be things that you and I will disagree on. That is a given. But, like my friend Denise's grandfather once said, "that's what makes this country so great. We each get to have opinions, and we get to voice them ... out loud and disagree about those opinions, and I wouldn't have it any other way." He was another WWII veteran. His words still echo in my head ... even a decade later. I salute him as well.
So, you and I may never come to an understanding on world affairs and the future political ramifications of the Iraqi War or any of the wars to come ... yes, there will be wars to come. You may not like the sarcasm that drips from my commentaries on life, love, and world peace. But thank God in heaven for the men and women that, for no more than a sense of duty to their families, laid down their lives for the future of this land ... however scarred, unjust, and ill-equipped to deal with humanity it may be at it's present state. I salute them, too.
I salute the women that have paved the way for me to be the free-thinking, strong, independent woman that I am today. They have lined the road before me with their blood, sweat, and tears. I have choices in this life, because of them ... I salute them!
I had the opportunity, no the privilege really, several years ago, to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is an experience I will NEVER forget. Never was the idea of freedom and the cost of such freedom made so palpable to me than on that balmy spring night as I scanned over the countless names. I salute those individuals on this Fourth of July ... and I salute the ones that came back that never received their proper due ...
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." -- John F. Kennedy
"Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward." -- Patricia Sampson
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw
"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." -- Albert Einstein (1950)
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be...The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. " -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I salute the freedom-makers, the freedom-sustainers on this Fourth of July ...
There will be things that you and I will disagree on. That is a given. But, like my friend Denise's grandfather once said, "that's what makes this country so great. We each get to have opinions, and we get to voice them ... out loud and disagree about those opinions, and I wouldn't have it any other way." He was another WWII veteran. His words still echo in my head ... even a decade later. I salute him as well.
So, you and I may never come to an understanding on world affairs and the future political ramifications of the Iraqi War or any of the wars to come ... yes, there will be wars to come. You may not like the sarcasm that drips from my commentaries on life, love, and world peace. But thank God in heaven for the men and women that, for no more than a sense of duty to their families, laid down their lives for the future of this land ... however scarred, unjust, and ill-equipped to deal with humanity it may be at it's present state. I salute them, too.
I salute the women that have paved the way for me to be the free-thinking, strong, independent woman that I am today. They have lined the road before me with their blood, sweat, and tears. I have choices in this life, because of them ... I salute them!
I had the opportunity, no the privilege really, several years ago, to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is an experience I will NEVER forget. Never was the idea of freedom and the cost of such freedom made so palpable to me than on that balmy spring night as I scanned over the countless names. I salute those individuals on this Fourth of July ... and I salute the ones that came back that never received their proper due ...
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." -- John F. Kennedy
"Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward." -- Patricia Sampson
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw
"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom." -- Albert Einstein (1950)
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be...The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. " -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I salute the freedom-makers, the freedom-sustainers on this Fourth of July ...
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