Springtime is a lovely time of the year. The air is filled with the smells of blossoms and fresh cut grass. The comfortable temperatures entice and draw us to enjoy the outdoors. This weekend will be no different in those ways but you will have the added benefit of seeing many stars and stripes flapping in the breeze. Your family may take part in a parade or host a family picnic to recognize a special group of loved ones that you wish to remember. Regardless of the activities you participate in this weekend; I hope we all set aside time to celebrate this most righteous of holidays. For it is as a united Country that we should set aside our differences to come together as a whole to honor and memorialize those brave men and women who gave their all so that each of us can continued to live in freedom, liberty, and peace.
Memorial Day was established for two reasons; to honor those special souls for their ultimate level of service to our Country but more so to memorialize them for their total sacrifice. That is why on this one special day our flag is displayed in two distinct ways. It is at sunrise on Memorial Day, that the flag of these United States should be raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives while either serving in our military or later dying as a result of injuries they sustained in that service. At noon, the flag which symbolizes our Nations values which they bravely shared, fought, and died to protect while serving, once more, in their cherished memory, it is raised by the living, who resolves not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all. Let us all step up to this call.
To the memory of these brave brothers and sisters, on behalf of this grateful Nation, we thank you and your family; for it is your bravery and passionate love for our unique ideals that continue to make this Country strong. I pray that we continue to raise our children to fully understand, like you did, that we live in a world where somethings are more important than self. Thank you, our heroic warriors for protecting that which we hold dear and may the price you paid never reduce in value in the heart of those who follow.
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.