The dirty little secret about history is that the best fighting forces have met success not because they hated, but because they loved. You American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, in your graves through the land \u2013 throughout the world, sometimes buried where you fell \u2013 loved the flag, loved your people, your homes, your Main Streets; and you loved the concepts of duty and honor.<\/p>\n
Most of you guys are probably like my father, and would tell me that you just \u201cdid what you had to do,\u201d and most of your kids are probably like me, in awe of dedication and sacrifice. You would tell us to honor the people in uniform right now, and we do.<\/p>\n
I am aching to ask you questions, if I could: is it different now? Today we fight enemies so far from our shores, toward victories that have not been defined. So often fulfilling missions to build roads and schools and deliver classroom computers, when back home here, where many military spouses are on food stamps, there are American communities in need of roads and schools and classroom computers.<\/p>\n
I know one thing that\u2019s not<\/em> different, because I have met some of the returning service people today, and have seen them on TV too. The uniforms still grace good people; people who have a sense of honor and duty; brave people who serve because service is honorable.<\/p>\n So maybe if anything is different now, it\u2019s not the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines; and maybe, when all is said and done, it\u2019s not so much the service they are asked to perform. Maybe the biggest difference is what kind of America they have been fighting for, what Main Streets they return to. I pray they are not much different than those of your day.<\/p>\n \u2026 but it was you men and women, now in your graves and represented in those memorials, who brought us to the point where we can even discuss these questions. You didn\u2019t give us Freedom \u2013 God did that \u2013 but you all defended it. You knew the difference, and you did it well. Often it was brutally difficult, and usually it was far, far away from your homes.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m going to tell you about trips we will take, many of us, this Memorial Day. Not as far away as your places of service and sacrifice. Some of us are not close to our relatives\u2019 military graves, but all of us are close to some military grave or memorial. I am going to suggest that we, the living, pick some flowers or buy some flowers, or get a little flag, and visit a military cemetery. Or any cemetery, and then look for a military emblem on the stone. Or a town\u2019s war memorial. We are going to place a \u201cdecoration,\u201d maybe a thank-you letter or a prayer, to brighten your memory and honor you\u2026 whoever you are. We are going to pray thanksgiving for your service. For those of us who cannot get out, we are going to make that trip in our minds.<\/p>\n My friend Ron Ferdinand drew an absolutely brilliant Sunday page for this year\u2019s Memorial Day. Dennis the Menace<\/em>, of all places! Check it out, if you can. Dennis and Good Ol\u2019 Mister Wilson, and Mrs Wilson, are discussing the meaning, and the changing names, of Memorial Day. Dennis observes: \u201cMaybe it\u2019s called Memorial Day because \u2018Thanksgiving Day\u2019 was already taken.\u201d<\/p>\n I look forward to visiting the grave of a stranger. I will symbolically shake your hand, and salute you. You represent much that was great about America. You represented us<\/em>. God bless you.<\/p>\n
![\"Dennis](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mondayministry.com\/images\/dennis.jpg?resize=500%2C358\" "\\"Dennis")
\n<\/div>\n