Published: May 20, 2008 10:11 am         

Time to recognize the military

Now that spring has arrived, most Americans across this beautiful nation of ours will be honoring our fallen military heroes at Memorial Day services. Shortly thereafter, on the Fourth of July, we will be celebrating the birth of our nation.

As a parent, take the time to do an Internet search on the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The words are very moving. “He died to make men holy let us die to make menfree” exemplifies why we honor our dead U.S. military men and women.

As we enjoy warm spring days with our families, or experience the emotion and love of holding a newborn child, we must not forget the price that a military family and their child paid for your happiness. No, freedom is not free!

It is important for all of us to memorialize, with patriotic celebrations, the pain and suffering that went into building and defending this great nation. We must honor the lives and sacrifices of our living U.S. military men and women, and those veterans who precede them in death. Since its founding, the U.S. military has kept this country free and open to all faiths.

Our schools need more emphasis on accurate American history, our American culture, its uniqueness and its preservation for generations to come.

We will soon be celebrating at countless graduations and graduation parties. The worldwide presence of the U.S. military guarantees that those who graduate high school and college every year will do so with a constitutional guarantee that protects their “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”

The Constitution does not guarantee charity, it guarantees your right to decide for yourself what direction in life you want to take, build wealth to the limits of your ambition or do nothing. The freedom of choice is yours.

The U.S military, just like the men and women in law enforcement, protects our freedom, our homes and our lives from those who wish to harm us. If you do not support the U.S. military, why then would you support law enforcement? Especially when many of them also serve in the military.

Wearing a U.S. military uniform means that you have met the challenge to honor your country. You are willing to put yourself in harm’s way, to protect and serve those you may never know. You will go whenever and wherever you are called and, by the grace of God, you will return. The U.S. military’s dual roles of liberators (not conquerors) and humanitarians represents American culture at its finest.

Never, in the history of the world, has one country’s military been so willing to take up arms and defend civilian populations from murderous tyrants, dictators, religious fanatics, power-hungry politicians, ideological criminals and at the same time lay down their arms to distribute food, shelter and medical aid to refugees of war and victims of natural disasters across the globe.

If ordinary Americans reach for, and sacrifice for, a better, safer world by serving in the U.S. military, why then are they so maligned by religious and socialist ideologues in our society? It is sad that some Americans are educated in the hate- America -first, social-engineering experiments (socialism 101) that are popular in academia.

Yet others hide behind religion and take from rather than give to the preservation of this country. Regardless, both fail to acknowledge their obligation to respect the military personnel who ensure their right of inept dissension. The number of U.S. mlitary graves across this country measures the freedom you enjoy.

This Memorial Day, go to the cemeteries around Goshen and Elkhart and read the gravestones of our military heroes. Read the names, the ages, the epitaph and at least try to grasp the reality that there lies someone’s child. A child that grew up to love this country enough to give his or her life for you to live in freedom.

Many of those graves are never visited because there are no descendents. Many of them were killed before they ever had a chance to start their families. They leave behind no sons or daughters. Even so, if they could speak, they would unselfishly thank you for allowing them to serve you, and ask that you not squander the freedom they fought and died for.

Visiting an injured or disabled veteran will give you an up close and personal insight and understanding of the personal inner strength, selfless sacrifice and commitment to freedom that American military men and women have paid so dearly for.

Their battle scars are reminders that they are not the bad guys. They stood in front of the guns that were pointed at America and took the bullets that were meant for us. If you love America, stand behind our troops. If not, get out of their way. My prayers are for the safety of our men and women in the U.S. military and their families. God speed their safe return.

— Richard Stewart, Elkhart