Words to remember

Each year as Memorial Day rolls around, thoughts return to the many services I have been privileged to attend at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Imperial. The ceremony conducted each year hasn’t changed that much, but I always come away from it with a good feeling about our country.
        We need that these days—with rising inflation, gas prices that make me cringe every time I bypass a station, open borders that put us at risk and the continued war between Ukraine and Russia in which our so-called leaders seem to insert us into more every day. And then we add the heart-wrenching school shootings.
        However, when we hear the messages delivered at Memorial Day services, words often quoting great men and women, it helps you look at the bigger picture.
    Words such as these:
    “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”—Evangelist Billy
Graham
    “America without her soldiers would be like God without His angels.”—Author Claudia Pemberton
    “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God such men lived.”—General George S.
Patton
    “You will never do anything in this world without courage.”—Aristotle
    And, one quoted by this year’s Memorial Day speaker at Mt. Hope Cemetery, Brian Hill: “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” President Harry S. Truman
    That good feeling that registers after leaving a Memorial Day service is directly related to the men and women who have served our country in the military. Without their commitment to preserving freedom—a commitment that could cost them their lives—we would not have the chance to attend these ceremonies at all, and be reminded of some of our country’s greatest heroes while hearing their reassuring words.
    Thank-you, once again, to all who have served this country. You are why we have the freedoms we do.