Ponder a moment on Memorial Day the cost of our freedom.

“Memorial Day” by Clotee Pridgen Allochuku is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Memorial Day” by ffaalumni is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

“Memorial Day 2008” by timomcd is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Memorial Day” by Anderson Smith2010  is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Memorial Day” by karen.73 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

I was on active duty in the U.S. Air Force a mere four years. I never got within 3,000 miles of hostile action against American forces. To top it off, my small contribution was decades ago.

As a result, I am squeamishly uncomfortable accepting the appreciation when someone tells me “Thanks for your service.”

It took me a few years to get to a place where I could accept those comments.

I now graciously and proudly accept those expressions of appreciation from my fellow Americans, not because of what I did so long ago, but on behalf of all those soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who do not have someone looking them in the eye, shaking their hand, and saying “thanks.”

So for all those troops pulling alerts, standing watch, scheduling logistics, or taking fire, please know that vast numbers of Americans are grateful for your service.

I pass on to you their thanks.

You are there, not here, so many people have thanked me instead. It is you they are really thanking.

While today we remember with gratitude those who did not return, I hope those who are serving today hear the appreciation.

I was on active duty during the Cold War and fulfilled my committment several years before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

I recall with wonderful joy the day the Berlin Wall fell.

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Been pondering today how thrilled I am to have:

• the political freedom to write five blogs,
• the economic freedom to run my own company the way I wish and see as much success as my effort, skills, & drive can create independent of the income level of my father when I was born or where his parents came from, and
• the religious freedom to worship as I see the bible suggests worship should be conducted, in a church where the preacher preaches the word as we in my fellowship believe it ought to be preached, and I can teach the bible as we believe it is meant to be taught.

(cross posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)

That freedom is a rarity on the earth today and unheard of for all of history until around, oh, say 300 years ago.

Oh how I wish that everyone on the planet could be blessed with that economic, political, and religious freedom.

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It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,

who has given us freedom of religion.

 It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,

who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,

Who has given us the right to vote.

source unknown

I challenge you to this experiment:

Spend a few days reading nothing but technology news. Then spend a few days reading nothing but political news. For the first few days [you will] see an exciting world of innovation and creativity where everything is getting better all the time. In the second period [you will] see a miserable world of cynicism and treachery where everything is falling apart.

Why is there such a gulf between those two worlds?

Quote from here.