When I was seventeen my father and I took a trip to Washington DC ... the first horrific thing that I saw there was the Holocaust Museum ... I don't think that what Hitler did registered with me until I walked through that museum and watched the bulldozing of bodies ... saw the personal stories ... that experience is something that will resonate with me forever ...Later that same day we visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall ... where my dad broke down and cried when he found the names of friends from high school ... and I think it wasn't until
then that I realized how much of a sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice actually is ...
Today I have so many friends and family that have served and it takes me more than two hands to count those I know that are actively serving ... Memorial Day is not about barbeques and alcoholic beverages ... it's not just an extra day off from school and work ...
It's about those that paid the ultimate sacrifice and those that volunteered to ... so now let me tell you a story ...
I have a friend ... he is in the infantry ... a sniper on his third deployment in Afghanistan ... his second deployment brings a story that would stop many in their tracks ... several weeks after he was deployed his infant son became deathly ill ... his wife was told that their little baby was going to die ... he had bacterial meningitis and as the base in Germany went into action and a General started the process of bringing him back to Germany from Afghanistan ... they didn't know if he was going to make it home to see his son again ... he did ... the baby slowly recovered ... beating all the odds ... however ... not long after he safely landed on German soil ... his unit ... a truck he was supposed to be in hit an IED ... many were killed ... all were seriously injured ... he should have been there ... he should have died along side his friends ... instead his sick baby that fought off death saved his life ... and that baby is supposed to have permanent problems from having such a bad case of meningitis ... but he doesn't ... so far, anyway, he is fine ... his fight with death was a blessing to his dad ... however, now his dad has to live with survivor's guilt ... he has said things before about having to face God someday for the lives he has taken and the guilt that comes with that ... and now he has survivor's guilt as well ... it's been a while now ... and he is doing better ... deployed again ... until after Christmas ...The thing is that Memorial Day is about those who have died in the line of duty ... but it's also about those who volunteer to do that and those that wish they had ... it's an honor to all of our Armed Forces ...
So remember as you're drinking your lemonade and beer ... and eating your hot dogs and hamburgers ... and chit chatting away at the family barbeque ... that there is a sniper in Afghanistan who is alive because his son almost died ... and he went back there to fight for our freedom ... along with all the other people that wake up on sand every morning and carry guns on their backs every day ... and remember to go out of your way to say thank you ...
