This being memorial day my thoughts just naturally turn to all of that. I grew up hearing about ww2 and Korea, first person accounts of those that were there. I heard about gold star mothers and heard about uncles that hadn’t come home. I saw the poppies being sold in support of our veterans. I attended the parades and the ceremonies on the village green. I heard the gunshots of those salutes at the cemeteries and the sound of taps in the distance.

I heard the tales of loss. There wasn’t much talk of heroes back then, heroes were far and few between. A few names were mentioned when that became a topic of conversation, Chesty Puller and Audie Murphy were the leading candidates. Later, in the 1960’s Kennedy was mentioned, as he ran for president. By far I just heard about those that hadn’t returned from those wars and the sadness that accompanied that reality. A price had been paid in the preservation of freedom! America had saved the world!

In thinking about that, the price was paid and freedom was the item purchased. A life is the currency. Each life a contribution to the common good. On an individual basis the cost is everything you have, you can give no more! Was that contribution voluntary? My thought is no, it wasn’t a voluntary thing. Lives were taken, not surrendered. Yes the offering of their lives was their choice in the end, they were all well aware of the possibility that it would be theirs taken in exchange, still they persevered. The price was paid, begrudgingly and not without resistance, but paid nonetheless.

I have heard about heaven all my life. How those that are virtuous and kind will be admitted into that realm. I’ve heard others dismissing that idea altogether, claiming there is no afterlife. Whatever you believe, you believe for your own comfort, not for the ones lost to us. You either believe you can rise to the occasion and life a virtuous life, earning that reward of eternal salvation, or you dismiss that altogether.

Those that dismiss that altogether have the attitude that it doesn’t matter. Their life, what they do or say doesn’t matter, it has no value. That must be the case if you believe it is worth nothing. I can’t help but believe my contribution, no matter how small, must hold some value. Every man on the battlefield believes his life in valuable, in fact, irreplaceable. He is defending that life after all. He is doing so in the belief that his contribution will be enough to secure the victory. For those that died in the attempt, we must remember and honor that contribution. You can not simply dismiss a life! You are enjoying the reward!

That is what the battle was all about in the first place. Wars are fought to secure an ideal. It is belief that drives men forward on the battlefield. It is strength of conviction that secures the victory. Has any war ever achieved that ideal? No they haven’t and they never will. That is the paradox in all of this. The nature of man is conflict, always has been. The ideal is peace. Peace can only be maintained by force. You have to be willing to pay the price for peace. Today we remember all of those that paid that price! That’s memorial day.

The promise of peace. Whether it is in life or death, peace is the ultimate goal. How do we obtain that peace? We do so solely on the belief that peace is obtainable. What is the source of that promise? It comes from within. It goes by many names, but is that inner voice, that guide that speaks to us all in the quiet times, it is the voice that screams in our ears. It tells us of our worth. Belief tells us the worth of the promise. Their belief paid the price. I hear their voices today and every day, the source of the promise.