New Memorials, New Remonstrances

America has a tendency to pull through crises, sometimes with the aid of a just a few of her children. At Valley Forge, Washington's young men survived on animal intestines and tree bark. The British tracked them in the bitter cold by following the bloody footprints of the discalced men. At Antietam 100,000 perished in 24 hours; the intensity of the gunfire ripped through and demolished a forest and left acres of corpses. On the Bataan Death March US soldiers were whipped and beaten down a jungle path; deprived of food and water, they saw the bodies of their comrades lying in the ditches they passed. In Vietnam, American POW's were starved, tortured, and murdered. And the question that should come to our minds should not be "How did they take it?" but "Why did they put themselves in that position?" On September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer and the passengers of United 93 commandeered their hijacked plane from the terrorists and met death at 574 miles per hour rather than see another building full of people get hit. Why? Because everything that is good and true and beautiful in this nation is worth starving for; worth suffering for; worth dying for. "The price of liberty is constant vigilance". But it is also sweat, tears, and blood. Every day that we wake up with ability to exercise our free will and live our lives to the fullest, we must remember that. Every breath God permits us to take should be exhaled with a silent prayer of thanks for blessings given and a petition for strength to carry our weight if the time ever comes. There seems to be a Divine Plan for this unlikely country of ours that gives us exactly the heroes we need in our darkest hour. Each time America falls to her knees, gasping in agony, a silent Hand lifts her gently to her feet and points to the men and women willing to give it all in the cause of truth and justice. The American way. To bring together a couple of things I've been thinking about, I think that whenever America asks God, "Do I make you proud?" He answers. "Every day."