The catch phrase for Memorial Day is almost always "Freedom is not free". It is a powerful statement as we consider the sacrifices of thousands of American patriots over the years. From our very foundations (the signers of the Declaration felt certain that they would pay the ultimate price for their independence - and signed anyway!) the cost of freedom was always heavy but most definitely worth it. For more than two centuries true Americans have placed blood value on the liberties we enjoy, but more and more we are surrounded by a society of citizens that believe the cost should be paid by someone else. Someone else's ideas. Someone else's sweat. Someone else's money and someone else's expense. Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
When the Continental Army marched to fight against the British soldiers, they willingly faced the greatest army in the world at that time. Each colonial soldier knew that his life might quickly end with the sound of a shot or the slash of a saber yet on he marched. At home was his family who knew he was not fighting for the privileges that some government or king would grant him, but rather for the rights guaranteed by the Creator. He knew that those rights did not provide for his needs, his cares or even his safety - he knew only that the ultimate prize of this "revolutionary" war would be opportunity. Opportunity to choose his own path in an ordered civilization, to exercise his own judgment in a civil society and to control his own destiny in the sight of God. He probably also realized that the pendulum of opportunity swung from the heights of success to the depths of failure however, in a truly free country, the key is that the pendulum keeps swinging!
Freedom is not free and it was never meant to be. There is always a price to pay. Patrick Henry realized that, for those who did not truly value life as dear or peace as sweet, freedom might be purchased at the cost of chains and slavery. That's the price that many are willing to pay in this current day. Prevent "climate change"; Provide healthcare; Save the banks; Supplement the industries; Tax the rich - tax the poor spend it all and tax some more. And at every turn more indpendent thinkers, innovative workers and industrious citizens are enslaved and chained. The pendulum is slowing and soon all opportunity will be lost. When will America wake up?
