I enjoy the freedom to ...

(Originally posted 05/30/2011)

Work where I choose (Because you chose to defend our country)

Go to school where I choose (Because you chose to lay you life on the line)

Study what I choose (Because you chose to devote your life)

Eat what I choose (Because you chose to make a sacrifice)

Praise what I choose (Because you chose to believe in our society)

Date whom I choose (Because you chose us first)

Read what I choose (Because you chose to put on the uniform)

Spend time with who I choose (Because you chose to stand on the front lines)

Live where I choose (Because you chose to train)

Say what I choose (Because you chose to become the best of the best)

Buy what I choose (Because you chose to face danger)

Drive what I choose (Because you chose to guard our beliefs)

Marry who I choose (Because you chose to protect and serve)

Visit who I choose (Because you chose to leave your loved ones behind)

Vote for who I choose (Because you chose to honor our ideas)

Drink when I choose (Because you chose to battle those who would hurt us)

Sleep in when I choose (Because you choose to preserve our way of life)

Sleep with whom I choose (Because you chose to safeguard our principles)

Watch what I choose (Because you died in our defense)

Believe what I choose (Because you chose to run headlong into battle)

Raise my child how I choose (Because you chose to go into uncertain danger)

Pray how I choose (Because you chose the needs of the many)

Serve how I choose (Because you chose to define heroism)

Pay what I choose (Because you chose to secure our rights)

Listen to the music I choose (Because you chose to cherish our constitution)

Think what I choose (Because you chose my life over yours)

Live as I choose (Because you choose)

I choose (Because of you)

I choose (Because of you)

I choose (Because of you)

Thank you for my right to choose.

I have the freedom to go for what I choose, when I choose, where I choose, and how I choose.  Those wants may not always be the best choice for me, and sometimes I may get in trouble for them, but the point is, I have the freedom to choose.  And those freedoms are thanks to you, the men and women of our armed forces that fight to protect our nation and the freedoms that come with being a citizen of this great nation.  I could not choose what I want, or even be aware of these freedoms had it not been for you living, and dying, to protect the very ideas that make America what it is today.  Sure, we have our issues and problems, and we don’t always agree.  But that is the freedom of choice that we have to make.
We devote every day to you with every choice we have and every freedom we enjoy.  Memorial Day, is a special day to devote to you, those who have fallen, in order to keep those choices we take for granted every day.  And sadly, people even take for granted this most solemn day.  It’s not just another holiday where we don’t have to go to work.  It’s not just another commercial holiday where marketers reduce their prices. It’s not a day devoted to BBQ with friends and family.  It’s not a day to serve as a 3 day weekend for a trip to the beach or stay out all night on Sunday night at the bar.  That’s not its purpose.  It’s a day to remember those who lay and have laid down their lives for us to have the freedoms to take a day off, to have a BBQ, to spend the night getting drunk, to shop for discount prices, and drive across the country because we choose.  Celebrate it right, and no matter what you’re doing, remember, and say thank you to the men and women in uniform, either in person, or at the sites of their burials, for the sacrifice they made so that you have the to choose.

To our troops, current and past, this blogger thanks you for all you do, for serving our country, and by extension, my freedom, and to the soldiers and families of those soldiers who have lost their lives in their sacred chosen duty to our nation, thank you for your sacrifice to keep the Land of the Free just that – free.
Just sayin.








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Comments made to original post

Nikki H Gomaa

I think this totally sums up Memorial Day. As you said above: Thank.
You Men and Women for your Sacrifice, without it, we would not be free. Now let's Celebrate Our Freedom!

May 29, 2011 at 8:11am

Gina Shubin · Works at The Home Depot

That is very true. This says everything! Amen

May 30, 2011 at 7:38am