Happy Memorial Day or Thankful Memorial Day? How About Both!

Today America sets aside a day to remember. It is a day that is just not about those that have died (although they are a part) it is also about those that live.

It is a day that we look at our nation. America (like ALL of her people) is flawed. We are not perfect. We are a nation that follows a piece of paper. Recently after eight years we watched a President walk away and a new one take over. There was no gunfire. There was no war. There was a vote.

Every day that this country lives it makes those that said democracy couldnâ€™t work look foolish. We have a lot of faults. We have a lot of issues. We also have exponentially more right with our nation and its conglomerate of less than perfect citizens than what is wrong with us.

We rise to the call when there is need around the world. When people hate us, we still arrive with help when natural disaster strikes. We still send our sons and daughters to fight and yet when we win we give people their countries back and only ask for ground to bury our dead.

We are the country that has been built on the sacrifice of countless men and women who leave their families to fight and defend freedom. We forget so easily. I recently had a conversation with someone and when I walked away I asked if they even remembered September 11th?

In America we can have more people vote for American Idol than the President and although that can be disturbing, it also speaks to what makes us great. We may not agree with everyoneâ€™s opinions, but most people would defend othersâ€™ rights to speak.

Today is Memorial Day. Today is a time of remembrance. Sure you mix in a hot dog or a steak, but that is the celebration of what we memorialize. Today I will MC the Memorial Day parade where over 100 families, according to organizers, from the state of Michigan who lost family members in Iraq or Afghanistan will gather. There will be floats and there will be a parade. We will look at those families who wonâ€™t gather with their loved one and cry.

We will memorialize their sacrifice; children who lost a parent, parents that lost a child, grandparents who lost grandchildren, and spouses that lost a husband or a wife. There will be veterans who didnâ€™t give their lives, but lost their legs, arms, mental capacity or even their eye-site.

It is those people. Any President from any party can send our sons and daughters into harms way. The patriotism is to go and to live with the sacrifice long after the battle is over. For that dad that lost his arms, what a loss his kids will feel by not getting hugs from their heroic father? For the mom that loses her legs, what sacrifice does her grandchildren make in not being able to play tag with grandma?

Today we remember. Today we think of the families. Today we think of the heroes. Today we think back and look at other countries and declare God Bless America, God Bless our People and God protect our democracy.

Today we remember that America was founded by the imperfect, is lead by the imperfect and its citizenry is imperfect. With all of that, she is still the best nation on this planet and the blood of our sons and daughters over more than 230 years has been a steep price for that way of life. We owe it to our descendants to make sure in another 200 plus years that she still stands and still shines bright.

Today we remember. Thank you Veterans, past and present, and thanks to your forgotten families. To those of you that read this site that are overseas, you know how I feel. I assure you that the many readers of this site agree. You are on our minds today. We are thinking of you. Shoot straight, be safe and we salute you and say:

On this Memorial Day, we remember you!

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