SHOWING RESPECT

This is a truly great country.  Not just for her innovation or military might, not because of our bread basket that feeds the world or our economy which drives it, but because of her freedoms and the people who enjoy them.

On the one hand. we have a free society that enjoys truly free speech.  Case in point, Westboro Baptist Church - the ultimate bullies.  This tiny church which boasts a congregation of barely 200 (most family members, at that), but they have made quite a name for themselves.  Their greatest joy, it seems, is to protest the funerals of our fallen military.  No matter what you may think of the signs they hold or the things they shout at the grieving families, no one can deny that they have the right to do it.  The question now seems to be at what distance, so that the families can grieve without suffering the emotional an psychological trauma Pastor Phelps and his minions would like to inflict upon them.

On the other hand, we have Rebecca Rooney.  Ms. Rooney, upon hearing about Westboro's plans to protest at the funeral of hometown hero Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, took action.  She rallied the people of tiny Weston, MO to join together in support of Sgt. Sadell and his family.  They filled up parking spaces, and came armed with patriotic music and American flags.  The best part?  It worked:

 

"If you think about it, they've all gone to serve just so we could be able to do this," said Rebecca Rooney who organized the supporters. "He didn't die in vain."

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SHOWING RESPECT

GOD BLESS THEM ALL

Freedom is Not Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.
it fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

That poem was written by US Coast Guard Commander Kelly Strong in tribute to his father, a Marine who served two tours of duty in Vietnam.

I personally like to think of Memorial Day as America's second Thanksgiving day. It is a day that we give thanks for those who have died to make or keep us free. From the brave militia members of the Revolutionary War whose blood was shed to create a nation of free people to the warriors of today in Iraq and Afghanistan who risk their lives to keep us safe and defend our freedoms, our debt to these brave men and women can never be repaid. All we can do is offer our gratitude, remember them and their sacrifice and teach our children about those who selflessly fought for our hard-won freedoms.

These men and women are the best of us, because they are able to reach deep inside themselves and do what is needed for the common good, even if it means sacrificing themselves for people they have never met. As Commander Strong so aptly put it, freedom is not free. It is paid for in blood and sacred honor.

There is a special place in Heaven for these brave souls, and a special place in our hearts, where they will live on forever. We are only the land of the free because we are also the home of the brave.

God bless them all.

Cross Posted at The Ripley Report

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GOD BLESS THEM ALL