On This Memorial Day Weekend, 2020

On this Memorial Day weekend in 2020 I'd like to express my deepest appreciation for those who, over the course of our country's history, paid the ultimate price in defending our freedoms and way of life.  In America we have our cherished rights and sometimes emphasize them far out of proportion to the concomitant responsibilities we bear as citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.  Those who have defended us in wartime are great heroes and of them, the ones who died in service deserve the highest honor possible.  Sometimes society makes demands on its free citizens as a necessary price for that freedom...in times of national emergency, be it war, natural disaster, or pandemic, the heroes rise to the top and do their part to save the day without whining about phantom rights being violated.  You don't necessarily have to give up your life, as did the many we honor on this solemn holiday, to be a hero...just do your own little part to help the others around you get through the crisis at hand...