Freedom

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not
ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each
generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known
freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again

"We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." --Ronald Reagan

Webster defines this word as many different things but the first on their
list is this "1: the quality or state of being free."

I grew up as a kid of divorced parents. My Dad a marine who served in Vietnam and spent a lot of his time, before us kids were born, working for the Vietnam Veterans Association taking weapons away from Vietnam Veterans throughout LA. A scary and dangerous job he stopped when we were born... But my Dad didn't walk away from that war unscarred and untouched. Although for the most part a very normal guy, there were others that weren't so lucky. He has a big heart for military to say any less would be wrong. I am so very proud of my Dad, in fact if it weren't for the Hand of God protecting
him from that mortar... None of us kids would be here today. He witnessed the un-American behavior of spitting in his face, or when he returned he tried to get his hair to grow as fast as possible so that people wouldn't mis-treat him.

I so often think about the cost of our Freedom. The freedom's we enjoy to choose our Presidential candidate, and the freedom to say how we feel in blogs like these. I hear  often from people against the war that we shouldn't be there. But at this point I don't care about people talking about the past anymore, what's done is done. I want to move forward and get to the end of this war just like everyone else. We will never get to the end of this war by sticking our tails between our legs and walking away and hope that it fixes itself. Should we have not done anything about the Berlin Wall? Should we have let the Japanese get away with bombing Pearl Harbor? I don't take for granted any life that has been taken during this war I believe their cause is noble because they say it is... but who are you or who am I to say that their cause wasn't or isn't noble? That isn't decided by you or I, but decided by that man or woman who is the one fighting for those freedoms we so easily enjoy. So before you decide to be the first one to cast that stone, think about the cost of Freedom. Don't just proclaim you support our troops, and then go protest in Washington... because our troops see those news reports and they don't need us to be protesting, they need to be supported and even if we don't agree with the reason why they are there- they are there so support them!

I love this quote... another one by Ronald Reagan "You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing is worth dying for, when did this begin...? ...Should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots of Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world?"

I know this may have come off strong to some, but if God was able to create passion inside someone for something they believe it, it should be shared. Everyone is going to have their own beliefs on who should be the next President... that's why we live in America we are able to enjoy Freedom!