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This weekend has become what is considered to be the start of the summer vacation season.
The kids are out of or about to get out of school. The days are getting longer. The grills are out in full force.
But this weekend in general, and Monday in particular, also must be a time to pause and consider those freedoms we enjoy as Americans -- the things we too often take for granted, like living in a place where we can travel as we choose, read the newspapers and publications we want to, watch the movies and television shows that we prefer and enjoy picnics and good weather as harbingers of good days.
That freedom has come at a steep price, and Memorial Day is a time to consider that cost, which has been paid in the lives of people across generations who have died fighting to preserve the American ideal.
Today is a day not to complain, not to worry about that which divides us as Americans.
We are not Democrats or Republicans. We are not conservatives or liberals. We are Americans, unified, thankful.
As a nation, we bicker over the national debt as an unpayable cost and continue to struggle for answers about what we must do to make sure the rule of law works for every citizen.
But the freedom to hold those debates is the result of the ultimate unpayable debt, the sacrifice of life in the cause of preserving the United States of America.
Millions of young men and women have answered -- and still answer -- the call to duty to defend the nation, to represent its best interests and ideals and to be of service to those in need anywhere on the face of the earth in the name of the United States. It's not just about war. It's about assistance. It's about aiding nations and people who need someone to stand up for them.
It's about answering that call knowing full well that the sacrifice to be paid could be to be be placed in harm's way, to fall in the name of the nation while fighting the enemies of freedom around the globe.
We remember those who have paid that ultimate price today with a sense of honor and dignity and purpose, and strive to live lives worthy of that sacrifice that has been made too many times.
Take a moment today.
Attend a community Memorial Day event or just say a prayer of gratitude or spend a moment thinking about what it means to have others willing to lay down their lives for all of us.