An attitude of gratitude

Like many of you, I have experienced a multitude of emotions as I have experienced yet another Memorial Day holiday. It is a great credit to our nation that we embrace the memory of those who have “given the last full measure of devotion” to defending our nation in times of national peril.

Many years ago while I was living in England, I was touring an ancient Anglican church. Inside the church was a memorial to England’s war dead, under an inscription that read, “In England’s hour of greatest peril, they sacrificed all their tomorrows!” How heartbreakingly true! Just so, as we honor America’s war dead as well as those who were willing to die to protect us, we need to remember and be grateful that we have always had men and women who were willing to step forward and risk sacrificing all their tomorrows to protect our freedom and safety.

Every year at Memorial Day Weekend, and other times as well, I think of my high school classmates and friends (Class of 1965) who died before their 21st birthday serving in Vietnam. I thought about them when I became a husband, a father, and uncle, etc. They would never live to experience those joys. We all owe a debt of gratitude to all our veterans, especially those who died in service. And we owe a debt to all their loved ones who continue to mourn the loss of a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a nephew, a wife, a mother, a sister, an aunt, a niece, etc.

This past weekend I had the privilege of watching the marvelous movie Saving Private Ryan once again. I was reminded of what a monument to the movie-making art it is. The fictional character Private James Ryan, a U.S. Army private, took part in the D-Day mission of Normandy on June 6, 1944. George Marshall, the U.S. Army Defense Chief discovers that all three of Pvt. Ryan’s brothers have been killed in combat. He decides to send a search team to find Ryan and send him home to his mother.

Army Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is selected to lead the rescue team. Despite long odds, they locate Pvt. Ryan, who refuses to leave his fellow soldiers. So Capt. Miller’s rescue team decides to stay and fight alongside Pvt. Ryan’s unit. In the ensuing battle, several of Miller’s rescue team are killed. As Capt. Miller is dying from his wounds, he challenges Pvt. Ryan to “earn this….earn it.”

He was challenging Pvt. Ryan to go home and live a life worthy of the sacrifice that has been made to save his life and return him to his mother.

In reality, we all should accept this challenge to “earn it.” Many thousands of our fellow citizens have laid down their lives on the altar of freedom to preserve our liberty.

Such sacrifice incurs obligations and responsibilities. To ignore such selfless sacrifice is to be guilty of the grossest kind of ingratitude.

Let us all rededicate ourselves to living lives worthy of their sacrifices. And may we never cease to thank their loved ones for their sacrifices as well.

May God continue to bless the United States of America!