Week Twenty-Two - Memorial Day Gratitude

I grew up in a military family.... Air Force... the branch that loves to go off into the wild, blue yonder.  Memorial Day celebrations were a huge part of my childhood.  Generally big parades, laying on of the wreaths, fly-overs, and taps, all focused on honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us and our freedom.    I’ve also  been to these celebrations in many different cities in the United States as well as overseas.  All one has to do is travel to another part of the world to truly appreciate the privileges our forefathers and military have fought to obtain for us.  No Memorial Day left a greater impact on me, than the one spent in our nations capital at Arlington National Cemetery, witnessing endless rows of white crosses spilling over the horizon, .  The enormity of the price paid for us to live in freedom is unimaginable and the tangible reflection, on those hallowed grounds, is overpowering.  Even as a child I felt a surge of gratitude and awe.    

I will be the first to confess to whining and complaining about our government, the state of our economy, the current climate of division, narcissism and pettiness.  It seems I do it more than I should these days.  Maybe this is something I should change.... or maybe not..... I am allowed a voice here in this United States of America.  First and foremost, I am not going to be jailed for all my complaining.  I have freedom of speech.  I also have the freedom to read any book I choose, own property, and start my own business.  I am free to worship within any religion I want and choose my own version of God, or not. I am free to gather with other like-minded Americans and peacefully protest.  This list could go on and on.  

Sure, we all hear of an exception to the rule, and could march this out as an example of how democracy isn’t working.  We can choose to see that our rights are slowly being taken away from us, and I have been guilty of that mindset from time to time too.  Yet in this country, no one can take away our rights, unless we allow them to.  Unless..... we become complacent about voting, not being proactive in our political system;  even at a local level.  We can make a difference too.  We are free to demonstrate, write our Congressmen, speak and write... out loud, promote, and come together for change and our better tomorrow.  This is how much of our change has been implemented.  You don’t like the current policies and laws, make a sacrifice, speak out, stop buying, stop donating, stop participating, be a mosquito caught inside your Congressman's shirt, make some noise,  stop electing.  The easier softer way doesn’t really lead to strength and change, it leads to complacency, and mindlessness.  Think about the sense of values of the service men and woman who gladly went to war to protect human rights, yours and mine.  What about those sacrifices....their lives. We can give our voices, our time, our protestations, our votes.   

The greatest generations continue to protect and treasure those rights,  fight to keep, and honor those things this country was founded on... “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ...

WooHoo to this great country of ours, just as it is, and,  for all of its potential.  

WooHoo to men and women everywhere who are willing to unconditionally sacrifice all, to keep us free and safe.  May our Creator  continue to bless America. 

My gratitude this week is for the gift of exposure to the price of freedom reflected in many Memorial Days.   It's taught my heart that nothing worth having has ever been obtained without some degree of sacrifice, integrity, and comittment.   I grew up on this poem and to this day,  I am always moved to tears by the last line. 

 HIGH FLIGHT

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee