Memorial Day: Selflessness and Sacrifice

Well you all know what day it is! Its Memorial Day! Therefore I have decided to dedicate this post to all the brave men and women who have laid down their lives for the rest of us wimps.  I don't know if I could have done what they have done, which only makes what they have done all the more remarkable for us.  Whenever I hear stories of people that have hurled their bodies on top of grenades to save their fellow soldiers, it challenges me.  I wonder, "can I have done that?" I really do not think I could have.  How do people become so entirely selfless? I wish I knew. Anyways, I know that many soldiers died doing just that.  They knew what it meant to be selfless.

History has proven time and time again that in the worst of times, men step up to defend what they hold most dear.  Men do things they never thought they were capable of before.  In every war from the War of Independence, to the Civil War, to WW II, to Vietnam, and finally to Iraq, Americans have sacrificed their lives for something they thought worth dying for.  After all, there were ways out.  Running away was an easy option during the Civil War.  One can always wait, and cower in the moment when all your buddies are pinned down, and unless you do something, they can very well die.  But they didn't.  They stood up and fought, and laid down their lives for their buddies. Every single one of those men is 10 times the man I am, and forever will be.

Ask yourself, "Could I have done what they done?" and seriously ponder on that.  We need men that will stand up for good and against evil.  We need men that will sacrifice themselves for others, even if it meant laying down their life.  Luckily for us, we rarely have to make such dramatic choices, but nonetheless we should live out our daily lives to be intentionally selfless.  Make sure that every day you stand up for good and against evil.  No matter how minor the incident, do not simply look out for your own skin, your reputation, your popularity, your career, or whatever else it may be.  Stand up for what is right, no matter the cost.

That is what Memorial Day is about.  We get to enjoy all we do today because of ordinary people that stood up for what is right in the past.  If we wish to continue to enjoy what we have, then we must be ready to stand up and sacrifice.  Tomorrow's society is shaped by today's sacrifice, let us never forget that.