I am fortunate to have worked on many projects with numerous veterans organizations over the past few decades. The men and women I met have huge hearts for their fellow Americans. They put themselves in harm's way for us. Many of their comrades didn't make it home.
It is for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms that we take time to honor and remember each year on Memorial Day.
There's a story about a bird that reminds me of our soldiers who died protecting us. A group of firefighters battled a raging fire that took out several acres of forest and finally got it stopped. As they walked among the charred, bare tree trunks and smoldering debris on the ground, they came upon a dead bird at the bottom of a tree trunk. It had one wing spread wide and clearly died in the fire just sitting there. The men thought it so odd that the bird didn't fly away as it could have. One man took a stick and moved the bird slightly. As the bird's wing lifted up, three baby chirping birds lay safely beneath their mother's loving wing.
That's what men and women who fight for our freedoms do -- they are prepared to give their own lives to keep us safe. We owe them an immeasurable debt of gratitude.
Please join me this Memorial Day at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence in their honor.
Enjoy your freedom this week to hear wonderful music, try a themed picnic, and so many more opportunities in the Upper East Side of Texas. Visit us online at www.countylinemagazine.com. — P.A. Geddie
