Ladies (and Gentlemen) please take a moment on Memorial Day weekend
to remember the Americans who gave us our freedom…. This is why I
joined in the 2A fight, so that these men and women will not have
fought and died in vain….. They gave us our freedom….. All gave
some and some gave all! Let’s all do our part to KEEP what they
fought and died for to give us!

At the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was
asked, “What have you wrought?” Ha answered ” ….. a Republic, if
you can keep it’

Let’s all do our part to KEEP what they fought and died for to give
us!

=========

Earn This…
By David J. Miller

A wave of patriotism swept through this land of ours nearly 60 years
ago.
Nobody under the age of 50, myself included, really knows what it was
like to
live in America at that time. Americans were united in purpose in a
way that
this country hasn’t seen since. Children collected tin cans, rubber
and paper.
Women planted Victory Gardens, saved fat, and hung service flags in
their
windows. Men were called to become soldiers.

They were called from their lives as farmers, accountants, carpenters,
doctors, and all professions. The rich and the poor alike were called
away
from their homes, their jobs, their families and their friends to
take an oath
to defend the Constitution. To leave behind everything, and swear to
God to
defend something that many of them had never read before. This meant
training
to become soldiers, and being a soldier means that you are trained to
kill.
Good men, reluctant men, were told that they would be shipped to
Europe, or
North Africa, or to the middle of the Pacific Ocean; to fight and to
kill the
enemy of the Constitution, the enemy of Freedom. To fight against
tyranny.

It is said that, “All of them gave some, and some of them gave all.”
There are
9,386 of the men who gave all, buried in a cemetery at St. Laurent-
sur-Mer.
This cemetery is located on a bluff, overlooking a beach in Normandy,
France;
which, in June of 1944 was known, simply, as Omaha.

It is in this cemetery that a recent film makes its start. Saving
Private Ryan
is a story about a squad of Rangers who are ordered to penetrate
enemy lines
to locate and retrieve a soldier named Ryan. This soldier had three
brothers
who, unbeknownst to him, were all killed in action and it was
determined that
the last Ryan should be returned home, lest his mother lose all her
sons in
the war.

So eight rangers risk their lives for one man. One man that their
commanders
decided was more important than any one of them. Needless to say, not
all of
them are thrilled with the prospect of piercing the enemy’s line to
bring back
just one man. These men had sworn an oath though, and so they went.
Reluctant
warriors.

As it is in war, it is also in war movies, not everyone in the squad
survives
to the end. When one of the rangers is hit with enemy fire, he
motions Ryan
over to him. He says two very important words to him. Two words,
before he
dies.

“Earn This.”

In that moment, that soldier became every Veteran speaking to every
American.
“Earn what we all fought for and what many of us died for. Think of
us often.
Remember our names. Do not forget us.” And that is the request of all
the
young men who have died in all the wars ? from Normandy to the Cho-sin
Reservoir. From Da Nang to the Gulf. From Somalia to Kosovo.

“Earn this.”

I have since realized that my own free and bountiful life has been
baptized in
the blood of the soldiers of World War II, and of all other wars. I
have
realized that the 9,386 men buried at St. Laurent, though a fraction
of the
total that died, did for me in a very real way, what those Rangers
did for
Ryan. I have realized that the men who fought, and lived, and came
home and
are living out their lives right now did the same… For me. Perhaps
I owe all
of them an accounting of how well I’ve lived, of whether I’ve earned
what
they’ve bequeathed to me and the world.

I struggle today, wondering if I can ever make the equation balance.
Deep down
I know that there is nothing that I can ever do to earn what they did
for me.
There is no accounting, to balance the equation of even one man
dying… for
me, let alone… thousands.

But it is worthwhile to try.

How do we even begin to give an accounting? We begin by remembering.
Remembering the fallen soldier who never returned. Remembering those
that did
return, scarred and scared, and different somehow.

Then we must be thankful. We must express our thanks to those men and
women
who fought against tyranny so that we may be free. Don’t assume that
they know
the world is thankful. Do your part, tell a Veteran today that you are
thankful for the sacrifices that they made, on the altar of freedom.

Finally, we must let our light shine. You know the children’s
song, “This
little light of mine.” Well that is also what we need to do to begin
to “earn
this.” Don’t hold back any action that is good. No matter how small
and
insignificant it may seem, do it. Edmund Burke once said that, “All
that is
required for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.” The
gift that we
have all received from our Veterans is Freedom, and the cost of
Freedom is
eternal vigilance. We must guard and protect this rare and costly
gift. We
must be vigilant, we must not allow evil to triumph easily. A small
bit of
good now may prevent a great evil later.

On Veteran’s Day, on Memorial Day, and everyday, this is what we all
need to
do, to “earn this.” Remember; Give Thanks; and Let Our Light Shine.
Remember
all the men and women who gave their lives for us. Give thanks to all
the men
and women still with us, who gave of themselves when it was required.
And
finally, don’t let the torch go out. Keep the light of the torch that
they
passed to us burning brightly by adding just a little of our own
light to it.

These are the things that we all need to do as Americans; so that we
may
continue to enjoy Freedom, Liberty and Justice for All.

?2001 by David J. Miller
All Rights Reserved.
[email protected]

P.S. You may also appreciate this (original and religious) version:
http://www.bright.net/~jcmdjm/Veteransday.html