Honor Memorial Day

[SpyderEdgeForever]

I want to personally thank and give my utmost gratitude to all the armed servicemen and women in all branches who have given of your time and person and your sacrifice to protect freedom and the Constitution, I thank you all, as well as a thank you to all of the first responders and military folks on this here forum. God bless you and my utmost thanks to you all.

[tvenuto]

Good thread SEF. I'd also like to thank the family members of our armed forces members, who sacrifice for us less directly, but no less importantly.

[SpyderNut]

God bless all of our men and women in the armed forces and especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

[PayneTrain]

I find it easy to lose sight of what we thank these people for, especially today when we focus on those that gave their lives. When I think about the other countries out there that don't have what we have, all those people who can't even fathom a life like ours, whose reality would be like science fiction to us, I begin to realize what we're thankful for today. Millions of people that live their entire lives never knowing the wonders that are a part of our lives and we take for granted every day, never learning the kinds of things we learn, seeing the things we see, taking advantage of the opportunities afforded to us to truly gain a level of self-realization that these people will never know, and will never know that they'll never know. People who live in real fear every day for their lives and the lives of their families, either from evil governments and rebel extremists, or from disease, famine, disaster, and isolation.

These people remind me just how amazingly lucky we all are to live on a relatively safe, fruitful piece of land and among people who believe in things like freedom, opportunity, civil rights, and progress. Sure, we don't get them all right all the time, but we have a pretty darn good thing going here. It's so good and our people believe in it so strongly that so many of us proudly volunteer to risk their lives so that the rest of our lives stay as great as they are. And it breaks my heart knowing that so many of these people never got to enjoy the American life that they signed up to protect. Every single loss is a tragedy to me, and I hope each and every story gets told and the memory carried throughout at least one person's life, so maybe in a weird way it won't all be a waste.

Cuz I'm sorry but my life is not worth someone else's death. I owe a debt to some countless number of souls that I'll never be able to repay. The only thing I can think of is to make the best of this life that they've given me, continue their work to make the world a better place, and make them proud to have given what they gave.

Tl;DR: Just thinking out loud on what this holiday should mean to me. Basically, America rocks!

[OldHoosier62]

'A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check
Made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to
and including my life'. That is Honor, and there are way too many people
in This country who no longer understand it.

Enough said, OH62...USMC, Retired