Thank You Veterans

I was encouraged this morning by all the American flags I saw in the neighborhood as I drove my son to school.  But more importantly, I hope our veterans are encouraged by it.  I hope every veteran who sees the flags and the parades, and who is personally thanked today, will feel our immense gratitude for his or her service to our country, as will the families of fallen soldiers.  We can never repay them for their loss.

Read that again: we can never repay them.  If every Veterans Day celebration, expression of gratitude, and medal for heroism is weighed on the scales against the actual losses and sacrifices of soldiers and their families, they come up woefully lacking.  I don't see how a soldier could be fairly compensated in this life.  And unless a soldier believes in the righteousness of his cause and a reward beyond this life, I don't see why he would serve.  Selflessness makes no sense without eternity.

God bless the men and women who deny themselves every day for our protection and our freedom.