BLOOD is necessary for FREEDOM. [2 min read] This is an ancient concept, a universal declaration. “Freedom isn’t free” is a truism. Sacrifice – the ultimate sacrifice – is necessary for a Declaration of Independence to mean anything. People give up their lives because they believe in their country and what it stands for.
It is amazing but true that folks from Biloxi, Murfreesboro, or Pensacola will lay down their lives for others they have never met who live in San Francisco, Chicago, or New York. Dying to protect your family is one thing, dying to protect an idea is altogether different. Sure, I know that motivations toward voluntary service in the U.S. military differ. But the uniqueness of dying for the oath of defending America is why we celebrate Memorial Day.
Conscription to serve is compelled by tyrants but is given gratis by a free people. I am amazed that students I have known whose families have immigrated from other countries are sometimes the first to sign up to serve in the Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. Students from Guatemala, Mexico, Nigeria, or the Philippines wear their uniforms with pride of service, pride of country.
One statement true of them all is always the same, “America has given my family so much, I want to give back to America.” An idea, a love of country compels them. These same students will also tell me something else. The general comment goes like this: “There is no other country in the world like The United States.” When I ask them to explain they are often blunt, “If you do not know what it’s like to live without freedom, you can take your freedom for granted.”
“Enjoy your long weekend”* is not the kind of statement that should be attached to Memorial Day Weekend. No. This day, this weekend, is to remember U.S. military service members who have given their lives to die for the sake of our freedom. We pay homage this weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, to remember them. And we disrespect their memory, their sacrifice, if we take the freedom they have given us, for granted.
So, this weekend, let us forget our individual and national differences. Hostilities between good people who want the best for our country have existed from America’s inception. Go ahead and be mad again on Tuesday. But today, Monday, Memorial Day, take a moment to remember that others have died so that you and I could live free. If we forget the sacrifice, we belittle the memory. The shedding of BLOOD is always necessary to preserve freedom.
* A phrase tweeted by Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Memorial Day Weekend for which she was excoriated in social media.
An occasional writing, originally published on social media 31 May 2021: Facebook and Linked In.
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