Prices

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A long while ago as a young cop, I taught a junior high school class entitled, "Rights and Responsabilities." The class was designed to illustrate that the Rights we have as Americans are not free, but have Responsabilities attached. And I always closed the class by repeating some one else's saying, "But our hard earned Rights will be the very thing that destroys us."

The Rights we have were not free. My father, and each of his brothers fought to preserve the Rights that were given to us by past generations. Close to 20% of my high school male friends, and one brother-in-law died while at war, not to mention my other brother-in-law, and my many other friends that returned from war with less than what they had taken. Our son, our nephew, and many of our friend's sons and nephews, are or have served in the armed forces overseas. Some have completed their tours and returned home, some have not yet, and some will never. Those that serve do so because it is their responsability.

So many have paid the price to win and preserve the Rights and Freedoms that we seem to take forgranted. The war is not over, and will likely not ever be over. We complain that over 4000 of our loved ones have paid our price in Iraq. Not to minimize their lives, but we lost that many soldiers on the beaches of Normandy in the first 3 hours! Today, Americans are complaining that our troops in Afghanistan killed 27 civillians during a firefight with the Taliban. What about the 50,000 we killed in a split second at Hiroshima?

Now, I'm not a war lover. But I believe in what Americans have fought for. From our Revolutionary War, to the Civil War, to World Wars, Vietnam, the Middle East, and all the ones in between, there was a price. And I believe they were all worth that price, what ever it was. But I always pray for peace.

In the beginning, our Fathers fought and paid the price for religious freedom, which we are about to lose. Our Fathers fought to end slavery, have equal rights for women and minorities, and to protect our homeland, which were are about to lose. With a Half-White President that has benefitted dearly by the prices our forefathers paid, now giving away our National secrets, shaking hands with terrorists, and de-emphasizing Christianity and it's values, I feel very concerned for the future of my grand children, and their children. The very Rights which were fought for are being used from within and against us.

I post this now, as Memorial Day nears, to encourage you to plan time to thank those that you can for paying our price, and for those that you can't thank, thank their parents, or just say a prayer.

I'll be praying for those, and for America, from the solitude of the Thought Dock.
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