Today, and Every Day

"There is no greater love than this: to lay down one's life
for one's friends."
(John 15:13)

I always nod to a soldier when I see one. Sometimes I've been driving through a parking lot and passed one in their car, and given them a quiet salute. It's in those moments that we must also be thankful to the soldier, as they may not rejoin us as veterans.

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I think Katharine Lee Bates had the right idea. Too bad so many of these verses are cut out of our modern day version of America the Beautiful

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

America is not only a land, it's a state of mind. It never hurts to revisit the definition of America. When you do, you understand at the level of your soul, what it means to fight for it.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone