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OPINION
A
time to remember
Another
Voice
BRIAN BLAIR
NH Correspondant
How many
of you have ever pulled out an old photo album and flipped through
it? I am sure most of you have, and when you did I bet it put
a smile on your face and maybe even brought a tear to your eye
as your thought about the days gone by and the people who may
have made you what you are today. Some of those people may not
be here today and they probably make those memories even more
precious.
Monday is Memorial Day. It is a day when we as a nation flip through
our scrapbook and remember those men and women who gave their
lives to make us who we are today. We will remember those who
made the ultimate sacrifice in order to allow us to enjoy the
freedoms we have today.
When we think about those who have died while serving this country
we can think of a variety of people. We think of those patriots
who defied the odds of taking on the British Empire in the hopes
of achieving independence. They were a simple people who were
able to accomplish a great feat in defeating a superior enemy.
We think about those young men who headed off to Europe during
World War I. They fought in the trenches and faced not only bullets,
but also poisonous gases that if breathed could have caused death
or done serious damage to their nervous system.
As we remember, we also think about those young men who, with
their whole lives in front of them, stormed the beaches of Normandy.
What must they have been thinking as the boats got close to the
shore and they heard the bullets and saw their comrades falling
all around them? General Omar Bradley said, “Bravery is
the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”
In spite of their fear when facing a well-trained army, they were
able to take the beaches and push forward to victory over Hitler
and his desire to conquer Europe.
On the other side of the world, the same kinds of young men and
women were facing a different army and they were able to do what
must be done to help our nation prevail. While many of these brave
heroes returned home to a grateful nation, many did not.
Today, young men and women are still giving their lives to protect
this country. No matter how you may feel about the current affairs
abroad, we still need to honor those who have died defending the
freedoms they so strongly believed in.
In a world where we bestow the title hero so freely, American
philosopher and author Joseph Campbell said, “A hero is
someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than
oneself.” It is estimated that over 650,000 people have
given their lives fighting for a nation they deemed to be greater
than themselves. Those heroes are the ones whom we should be honoring
on Memorial Day.
So as you enjoy your day off from work, your picnics or your golf,
take time to stop and remember those who gave everything so that
you could do those things. Take a moment to pay tribute to those
who have gone before and given us the freedoms we so often take
for granted.
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