memorial day

Freedom Is Not Free
- Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.


How true this is! We take our freedom for granted so many times. I think about the price that was paid - the lives that were lost and the sacrifices made. I have always been patriotic ~ I cry when I hear the national anthem, I tear up when I see a soldier in uniform, I proudly wave my flag, but I never REALLY thought about it until my brother-in-law was in Iraq. My Daddy, my "step-in-Dad", my father-in-law, my grandfather, my pop, my brother-in-law have all served in our military (and more that I KNOW I am forgetting), but I wasn't around when they were in the military, I wasn't aware of the sacrifice. I remember when my sister called my and told me that her husband, Steve, was going to Iraq. There were no words, just many tears shed. I remember the day he left ~ the uncertainty of his return, the heart ache, the loneliness my sister felt day after day. No, freedom isn't free. The families make sacrifices whether their soldier comes home or not. I THOUGHT I was patriotic. Now, I can't even sing the national anthem, I blubber when I see a soldier in uniform and I take every opportunity to thank our soldiers and their families and I continue to proudly wave my flag, if not flags! Everyone has seen pictures of Arlington cemetery, if not been there. No, freedom is not free ~ there was a high price paid for what I enjoy today.

Thank you, Dad and Pop, for serving in our military. Thank you, Steve, for continuing your service in the Army. Thank you to the families that have lost a soldier. I will never forget the price that has been paid.