Thank You To Those Who Serve & Have Served

It’s Veterans Day.  Friday, November 11, 2011.

Sometimes we confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day.  Memorial Day is for honoring military personnel who died in service to their country.  Veterans Day is for thanking all men and women who have served honorably in the military during times of war and peace.

Obviously, it takes courage for a soldier to risk life and limb for his country.  The least we can do is to honor these great heroes.  That is the basis of the Veterans Day celebration —  a day for all of us to pause and give thanks.  And, although our mere words of thanks will never be enough, we must exploit these great men and women with words of appreciation.  The edifice of our society stands on the martyrdom of these selfless souls.           

To these brave men and women, who are serving now and who have served in the past, we offer our most sincere, deepest and heart felt thank you for a job well done.  Thank you for your sacrifice and effort toward keeping the rest of us safe and secure.  To these brave men and women we offer the following tribute of inspiring quotes:

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  — John F. Kennedy

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!  — Maya Angelou

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

 — Elmer Davis

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down to the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.  — Dwight D. Eisenhower

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.  — Gary Hart

We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.  — George Orwell

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.  — Author Unknown

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution.  That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.  — Abraham Lincoln

In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated, and scorned.  When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.  — Mark Twain

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the week or the timid.  — General Dwight D. Eisenhower

When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?  — George Canning

Lord, bid wars trumpet cease; Fold the whole earth in peace.  — Oliver Wendall Holmes

Freedom is never free.  — Author Unknown