Past all the ads and commercials for “Memorial Day
Sales!!!!”
Past the “First weekend of Summer!!!”
Past the days off, the first games of summer, first days at
the lake or on the river, past the BBQ with neighbors and friends . . .
There are the graves, that hold the pieces of our nation’s
soul.
From Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel
Maverick and Patrick Carr . . . to . . . Special
Warfare Operator (SEAL) 1st Class Charlie Keating IV . . .
Conflict has been part of
our nation since its founding – it was created through the blood of those who
hungered for freedom . . . for our natural rights of “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness”. Every generation
or two forces arose to challenge those natural rights . . . and citizens of the
time rose to those challenges.
From Boston to Gettysburg,
from Flanders’s fields to Berlin. From
the Chosin Reservoir to the Ia Drang Valley to Sarajevo. From the Twin Towers to Telskof. Our nation has left behind the blood of those
of us who stepped forward in times of need.
Our soldier’s graves – both marked and unmarked – dot the globe in our
efforts to stand against evil. We have
invested so much . . . .
Today – take a moment in quite prayer – and remember these
souls that have given so much that we, as a nation, may have a chance at
survival. They freely gave their last
full measure for us . . .
Please Lord, hold
them in your loving arms and help us to be worthy of their sacrifice . . 
