My Life Monday - Week 4

My Life Monday - Week 4- In Memory of . . .

Soldiers, Good People, Freedom, Gratitude. What can I say about Memorial Day? While I have never had anyone I know personally die in a war or go to war, I am so grateful for the freedom that I have because someone did something to combat evil. We can wish oppression away, we can hope for a utopian society, we can try to keep our noses out of other countries and their business and turn our backs on each other, we can pray that evil people will change their wicked ways but will that happen? I hope someday it will. The world truly is filled with good people who have sacrificed so much for the better good. People who have tried to be a voice for others who do not have one. Do I always agree with the way things are done, no? Do I have a right in my country to make changes or protest about those things, yes? In the days to come, I know that great sacrifices will be made by many for my benefit and by people I do not even know and they will make those sacrifices for someone that they have never met. For that, I am truly grateful.

I am so glad that I was born in a country where I can express my opinions, where I can make something of myself, where my children can grow in safety without an emanate threat on their lives. Yes, bad things still happen here. Americans are not immune to bad things happening to them. My husband lived in a third world country for two years. I will tell you now that I would rather have our problems here in America than where he was.

This post though is not exclusively about Americans, but it is about people that have worked throughout time in all parts of the world for the better good of others. We could all sit and argue until we are blue in the face about what exactly that means because one persons good is not necessarily another's but most of us really do know what is right and what is wrong. I hope that makes some sense.

What I am trying to get to is this. Whether we believe in war as a means to an end or that using peaceful methods will bring about the desired results or a combination of both, I just wanted to say that I feel so much respect for those who put themselves on the line for me. In some small measure, I hope that I can do the same. So, while we are enjoying our freedoms today and our wonderful families and that yummy hamburger or veggie burger or hot dog or whatever your pleasure is, please remember those who have died before us, who have given something of themselves for a cause that they believed in whether that was fighting in the trenches of their own communities or in the trenches of the battlefield.

I found this quote by our church president, Gordon B. Hinckley, in an article from the March 1971, Ensign:

As we contemplate the human misery created by war, we need to recall our debt to those who have sacrificed so much for human liberty.

War means so much more to me than WWII or the Vietnam Conflict or our presence in Iraq. I want to remember the soldiers and I do, but I want to remember those people who have fought so hard in so many ways throughout the world to help others. Take a moment to think of them. Think of the men or women who have sacrificed some of their lives to make ours better throughout the world.