"Freedom is not free."

This is a repost of one of my old post. I repost again because I have something else on my heart on write about the 4th of July as well:

"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor"

There is a statement inscribed on the Korean War memorial that few people understand today. The statement contains only four words, yet contains a truth that utterly transcends its simplicity.

"Freedom is not free."

The Freedom we enjoy today in this nation cost us personally relatively nothing and that is why so many trample upon it as yesterday's paper. Today so few people remember or even know about the signers of the Declaration of Independence and their lives. They do not know what they put on the line for us to have the freedoms we enjoy today.

When those men pledged, "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor" they meant every word of it. So many of these men were so well off that they could have lived they entire lives and been relative unaffected by the British's harsh rule. Yet despite having so little to gain personally, they all risked so much so as to secure the freedoms of future generations.

So few people realize that we stand today on the shoulders of giants. We would be nothing today without every generation that has come before us. Let us rememeber today those that risked and gave so much for us to enjoy freedom. Let us also be prepared to do what is called of us to secure freedom for future generations.

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again." - Ronald Reagan, 1967.