As we all celebrated another Memorial Day I found myself conflicted - not in my beliefs and principles, but in an understanding of what motivates us today as Americans.
Partisan issues have always stirred debate and fueled countless hours of conversations over the dinner table, but unlike the generations before us, I don't think it has ever reached the level of vitriol and downright hatred that we see today.
At what point did we forget our origins of freedom and liberty, the pillars upon which our great republic was founded? This was what inspired our Founding Fathers to not only search for a better form of governance but to create the single greatest document the world has ever, or will ever, know.
At what point did Americans find hardship worthy of defeat? When did we find that because things have not gone perfectly in a war that the act of surrender suddenly seemed reasonable? My friends, I'm sorry, but there is no dignity in cowardice.
While our allegiance to liberty and freedom has sustained us as a nation over the generations, it's now not uncommon to hear elected leaders ready and eager to abandon those values simply for the sake of appeasing those who know nothing about the costs of those very words.
As we remember and honor those courageous souls who so willingly sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom and "slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God," I believe that we, as Americans, still understand the level of commitment needed to win the war on Terror.
As a free and blessed people, we can not shrink from our inherent duty to protect and liberate those who find themselves oppressed, persecuted, enslaved, and bullied. The thirst for freedom recognizes no boundaries and the cries for help will never be ignored by the United States of America.
