How to Say Thank You

As America pauses to honor veterans of all the wars from Lexington to the present day, I conclude that the best way I can say thank you to the men and women who have given or were willing to give all they have for me, is to be ever watchful of that wonderful thing called freedom. Through the years, there have been those outside our country and within our borders whose goal in life is to take away that freedom. Sometimes the danger comes in insidious ways under the guise of “keeping us safe”. Sometimes, the threats are from more direct, violent sources. As an American, I should be aware, alert, know what the Constitution says and defend it. I can say thank you best by honoring those who have gone before and by trying to be sure our freedoms in this blessed Nation stand intact for those who will come after.

Each Veterans’ Day, I think of a special young marine, my nephew Clint Day. I remember him as a child, the sparkle in his brown eyes as he and my youngest brother, only a few years older than Clint, went on exploring trips through my parents’ woods. Clint’s eyes would grow big as he told how they had found mysterious tracks under the trees. But, the two boys were always well-armed and well prepared with B-B guns (they never found any scary animals to shoot) and Mom’s homemade biscuits in their pockets. I remember how handsome he looked in his Marine uniform, and I remember that his life was cut short in an awful place called Viet Nam. Every time I salute the flag and every patriotic holiday, and at all the family gatherings, I remember and am grateful.