Memorial

The sound of freedom isn't the big brass band
It is the sound of a single bugler
It is the weeping of a mother and father
It is the sound of one last breath

The price of freedom isn't measured in the seeming countless lives lost on other shores and our own.

It is one life.

It is one life given freely in the pursuit of a dream. It is the all of one life stopping a tyrant. It is one life counting the costs and paying that price, that freedom may last for just one more day, if that is all that one could buy. It is often paid in obscurity. It can be lost in statistics. When the final tally is counted, and freedom is placed on the scale, one life will balance it all.

The joy of freedom is the unbridled laughter of a child on a sunny day. The taste of freedom is the milk which feeds the next generation. Freedom is the bread which sustains us in the darkest of prisons. Freedom thrives on the memorials and monuments in the hearts of free people.

Today, we celebrate the freely given sacrifice of men and women throughout our history. Each giving what they had. The cost of freedom .. One life.

I remove my hat in reverence and thanks.