JUDGE: Service on Memorial Day, and everyday
With this being the week of Memorial Day, I thought I would share the highlights of my remarks from the Memorial Day Ceremony at the courthouse Monday.
My family has a long history of military service all the way back to the Revolutionary War and before. I myself joined the Navy in 1988 and served in the Gulf War. I continued that service through 911, where I lost three friends in the pentagon that morning. Later, during the global war on terrorism, I sadly lost a few more.
But today isn’t about my service, nor is it about any of the brave veterans who are here today. Today we gather to honor those who did not make it home. Just as my friends died for their country, today we honor those who have given all they were, all they had, or all that they ever could have been - for us.
When you look at these memorials, remember those names not only represent the fallen, but they also tell the story of the numbers of parents, family, friends, and all the others’ lives whom they left behind, demonstrated today by the Goldstar Families here in Milam County
Today far too many of us focus more on the three-day weekend than we do the meaning behind the holiday. We worry too much about First world problems. We’re worried too much about ourselves and not about what truly matters, not about what those we honor today gave their lives for.
As we move forward, we must remember where we have been in order to know where we are today. Before World War II, we were simply a country among the nations of the world. After World War II, we became a superpower. A somewhat untouchable behemoth that other countries respected or feared which allowed the citizens of the United States to become somewhat complacent.
Service and sacrifice should be each of our first thoughts, our first desires, and our first actions. Your service is the best way to honor their sacrifice. The best way to honor all of those lives that were ended all too soon serving this country – serving us.
In his 1982 Memorial Day Speech at Arlington National Cemetery, President Reagan said the following. “The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we — in a less final, less heroic way— be willing to give of ourselves.”
With that sentiment in mind, I challenge each of you to honor their sacrifices and find a way to Serve.
To serve Your family.
To serve Your neighbors.
To serve Your community.
And to serve Your country.
Service that will honor those who came before us, and to truly honor the sacrifices they made to keep this nation great and to hand over the responsibility for its future to us.
God Bless our fallen, God bless you all, and may God continue to bless these United States of America.