Freedom Is Not Free

So many things can be said about the Memorial Day “holiday” but it’s supremely important to not lose sight of the fact that it isn’t national barbecue day. The day is a remembrance of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can have our families and our barbecue. Let us not forget that what we enjoy as Americans came with a hefty price tag. Not just for those who lost their lives, but for those who loved the soldiers paying the ultimate price. The families who on Memorial Day, ask themselves-was it worth it? Was what I sacrificed worth the cost of this loneliness and single parenting? For even when they find a new path, a new life, there will always be an empty pain on this day. A pain that does not have a cure, but it can be eased when the rest of us acknowledge the loss and sacrifice and say, yes, it was worth it. Your soldier mattered.

One such soldier that is personal to me, is Sgt. Brandon E. Maggart who was killed in Iraq, 2010. Brandon was my cousin and, along with thousands of soldiers, a constant reminder of our ‘why’ at Frontier Justice –Memorial Day matters.

Brandon had a son named Blake. Blake was tiny when his dad went to war and didn’t return. Over the last few years I have watched his widow Teresa put her life back together states away through Facebook. I told you I have a love/hate relationship with social media and this would be a love. I have shed tears at pictures such as this that showed up in my feed just a short time after his burial. I have smiled at races ran in memory of Brandon.

I have had my heart ache reading posts from his sister and his widow. I have wondered, would I have the strength that these ladies display every day when they choose to believe that you and I were worth the sacrifice they made? That this great country is worth the sacrifice…

Act worthy. Please do not disrespect our flag. Please put hope and prayer into our current leaders that we might have a majority of people who would pause on this day, Memorial Day, and believe that if called to the task would make the same sacrifices that those before us have made. I’m proud to be an American and I’m proud of the sacrifices I see made by those in my own family. Brandon mattered. Flags everywhere wave in the freedom that certainly was not free, but was worth sacrifice.