Memorial Day

Please let me offer my congratulations to all of the 2014 graduates. Each of you has worked hard and has looked forward to this day. The diploma is the reward for your diligence. This is just one accomplishment of many to come. You will now be off to the next stage of life.

I encourage you to give as much dedication to the things in the future as you have the challenges of your past.

This coming Monday is Memorial Day. To many it is a holiday weekend that marks the beginning of summer. Memorial Day is a U.S. federal holiday wherein the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are remembered.

The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the final Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. Often times it is confused with Veterans Day.

I am eternally grateful for the Men and Women who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their life so that our great country might be free. I am also thankful for their families and the sacrifice they made.

I have been blessed to see my son go into two tours of combat and come back safely. Each time I have realized that his life could be taken. There is no doubt that at times he faced death and realized that his time could be up, yet he pressed on because he was fighting for his country that he believed in.

I once set at the Atlanta airport during the peek of the war in Iraq, and watched the many soldiers. Some were embracing loved ones as they sent them off to the battlefields. Some were welcoming their soldier back from a combat war zone.

Both occasions brought different facial expressions and emotions. Those sending someone away had the expressions of concern and worry. Those welcoming someone home had the expression of joyfulness, as they saw their love ones return safely.

As I watched I set with tears running down my cheeks for both groups. I cried for those that were leaving because of the danger they were headed into.

For those returning I cried tears of joy for their safe return but I also shed tears of sorrow for what they had witnessed on the battlefield. I also shed tears of gratitude because of the sacrifice they had made for people like you and I, thus protecting our freedom.

God bless those who serve and have served our country. God bless the memory of those who gave their life for our freedom!