A Sincere "Thank You" To All Of Our Veterans

My dad was an infantryman in WWII.  His stories from the battlefield have always helped me to realize the hellish nature of war.  Sometimes, while listening to my dad’s experiences, I would try to imagine what it would have been like.  The idea that a group of people are coming in your direction and their primary intent is to kill you and your primary intent is to kill them—you won’t both survive—is more than a little bit frightening, sobering, motivating, strange, and no doubt several other feelings that I could never describe or understand, having never been there.  Have you ever tried to imagine such a thing?

Dad told me some of the ways that the brutal and ugly realities of war would mess with a young man’s mind.  I can understand how the stress and fear, along with the constant life and death stakes could easily “do a number” on a person.  One of the things that always stuck with me was the comment that I heard him say about war on a couple of occasions.  He said this, “there are things that happened that I would never tell people because they just wouldn’t believe it.”

As I think about my dad’s experiences, I am reminded once again, that I can sit here and freely share my thoughts because men and women have paid a price—and are continuing to pay a price—to make these freedoms and other kinds of freedoms possible.  Freedom has a cost.

By the way, even if you disagree with what I’m stating in this post, it’s interesting to think about the fact that your freedom to disagree was also paid for by the people who have protected my freedom to write it.

I do not, for a moment, discount the role of God in the freedoms we enjoy, all good gifts come from Him.  But God has clearly worked through people to allow us to experience the wonderful freedom and liberty that we enjoy.  It’s helpful for us to remember that in the entire history of the world, the freedom that we have in the United States is a rare, unusual, and extraordinary gift.  We are blessed!

So, to ALL OF THE VETERANS who have served to protect our freedoms, I express a heartfelt THANK YOU!!!  What you have done and what you are doing is good and honorable and GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Thank you and God bless our Veterans!

Dan Marler

Veterans Day 2010