RANTINGS

Since the Fourth of July Holiday is completed for 2010, some personal observations may be in order. I heard somewhere that four out of five people interviewed in a large city, didn’t even know what the real purpose of this holiday was. Fireworks were heard in my neighborhood well after midnight, celebrating, I suppose, little more than noise and colored lights. The fire department heaved a sigh when no serious fires erupted in our area and the ER at the hospital was probably jammed with people injured by explosives.


Other than that, I suspect not many people really gave the holiday much of a serious reflection. Perhaps, in some respects, I too am guilty of taking our country for granted. There are so many things we can all name on what’s wrong with America and should we forget, the media will remind us.


However, if I get serious, my thoughts about my country take on somber tones. I think of my father who retired from the military and served during World War Two. The sacrifices he made for Old Glory were more than I can fathom. I think of my two brothers who served in the armed forces as well and our two sons who are currently on active duty. I ponder my own military retirement, my time in Vietnam and think of the many places around the globe that military life took us and when I do, it wells up inside of me feelings of deep reverence and awe for the privilege it has been to serve.


During one part of our career, we were away from the States for almost seven years straight, serving in various locations in the Orient and Europe.


When that “freedom bird” brought us home at last to the land of the big BX, I literally kissed the sacred ground on which that plane landed.


My arrival at a large grocery store, full of plenty of food and fresh produce, caused me to openly weep, after so many years of seeing how the rest of the world struggles just to survive. Most people in this country today have little regard for the flag or what it stands for or those who have bled and died to give us the freedom we enjoy today. When I see our flag go by, I am filled with deep and abiding emotion. America has many faults but it is still the greatest land on the earth. May God bless America!!