Today is Memorial Day, the day we remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our Freedom. I capitalized the word Freedom, though it may not be grammatically correct, I think it is fittingly correct.
I've been thinking all morning, about what advice someone that lay dying on beach in Normandy, or Pearl Harbor, or any battlefield might have for the generations to follow that he or she so selflessly gave his or her life for. What would they tell us right before the end? I wonder?
Would they tell us, to spend our days consumed with accumulating things, or would they tell us to walk along that stream, pick a flower and smell it?
Would they tell us to spend our days rushing constantly trying to get ahead, trying to get more? Or would they tell us to sit and watch the sunset?
Would they tell us to scurry around hurrying through life, consumed with work like hamsters on a wheel? Or would they tell us to get off the hamster wheel and pat your favorite dog on the head?
Would they tell you to walk barefoot in the sand, feel the breeze in your hair? Watch the sunrise?
Hold the hand of your sweetheart as you bounce down an old dirt road in some old beat up pick up truck?
Would they tell you to let life get a hold of you and turn you into some machine? Or would they tell you to listen to your heart?
Would they tell you to follow life's constant static noise? Or would they tell you to follow the rhythm of your hearts own beat?
Would they tell you to put love above all else?
Would they tell you to love without inhibition?
Would they tell you to laugh without hesitation?
Would they tell you to say what you feel, before it's too late?
Would they tell what was really important, was all they accumulated? Did all those things, make it more meaningful?
I think as we remember and honor all who sacrificed if we really want to give honor to purpose, we might focus a little more on exactly what they truly gave their lives for. What would they tell us FREEDOM truly is?
