[Tru Blu Tuesday] A Tru Blu Thank You!

There is a short list of things that consistently populate my thoughts at least once every single day. One of them is how fortunate I am to live in the United States of America. Another, more sobering thought, is how grateful I am to every man and woman that has given their life to preserve it. I would like to reserve my efforts today just to express this gratitude for what they have done.

Since the first few militia men fell at Lexington, to the soldiers coming home from distant sands tomorrow in a coffin draped with Old Glory, there have always been brave souls willing to put their own lives on the line to keep in tact what we all hold so dear. The vast majority of them voluntarily offering their services, we owe so much to these fallen heroes. If not for them, the fruits of freedom might not be tasted still today. Yet, here we stand, with life and liberty in our own two hands, savoring the sweet, delectable flavors of independence.

Among the millions of those succumbed to the cruel blade of death, is such a wide swath of people unlike the world has ever known. The various ethnicities, having fought together since the Revolution, have also died together since that painful beginning. The wealthy, and the impoverished, the business man and the ranch hand, the teenage rebel and the old sage have laid next to each other on the battlefield in eternal slumber. Together, this conglomerate of saints and sinners has proven that defending home is a passionate desire held by all walks of life.

There are several factors that have melted together in order to create and preserve the miracle that is America. Our Constitution, resolution, ingenuity, generosity, and boldness come immediately to mind. Still, the most precious ingredients of all are the lives that do not get to enjoy what they fought for. Their invaluable sacrifices hold us up everyday.

I will remember what they have done, each and every day for the rest of my life. I will honor that memory by doing anything and everything I can to ensure their sacrifice was not in vain. To all who have so sacrificed, with every fiber of my being, I wish to say: Thank You!

 It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

-from the Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln