Believe it or not Memorial Day was not created to promote retail sales throughout our country.  It was created to honor those members of the military that sacrificed their lives to secure freedom for others.

 

Growing up in rural Nebraska, Memorial Day always had a special meaning.  It was the beginning of summer.  School was out and Memorial Day was the first parade of the summer.  Everyone in the community knew what the purpose was behind the three day weekend.  The parade always stopped at the court house in the center of town where a speaker would address the importance of the day and a 21 gun salute would honor the dead.  At each cemetery, relatives of the deceased veterans would gather to hear the names of the deceased that would be read, decorate the graves of the fallen with flags, hear taps that would be played and another volley of rifle fire would honor the sacrifices made. 

 

As Americans we have so much freedom we do not even give it a second thought.  Everyone else in the world does give thought to our freedoms.  We have freedom of religion, free speech, separation of church and state, the ability to own property, hospitals that provide the best health care possible the list goes on and on.  Some seek to use those freedoms against us.  Just as the 9/11 terrorists did. 

 

Meeting the children in small towns in Iraq, and they know about the freedoms Americans have, drives home the fact that what we have in America does not exist in other areas of the world.  It also drives home the fact that as Americans we need to make sure that together we make the sacrifices necessary to maintain our freedoms and pay homage to those who are making the sacrifices and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

 

Sacrifice is something that many of us have no idea what it means or how to accomplish it.  Sacrifice is not spending more time in the drive through for morning coffee or lunch than desired.  It means putting your needs aside to accomplish a greater good. 

 

The sacrifice of our military has always been above and beyond what other members of our country experienced.  The separation from family, the unique living conditions, being place in life and death situations during both peace time training and actual combat is the reality of sacrifice for members of the military.

 

So on this Memorial Day weekend I urge everyone to take a moment to attend a ceremony in their community that recognizes the true meaning of this weekend.  I will be at a small courthouse with my family, in the middle of Nebraska honoring those that have fallen.