Freedom is worth the sacrifice!

The year was 1944.  His message was short but held all the love he felt.  “My Dearest Wife and Children, Merry Christmas.  I miss you.  Chancy”  He was part of the “Greatest Generation;” a generation that left their wives, children, parents, and other loved ones to fight a terrible evil.  They knew full well the risk they were taking.  They knew that many would not return to see their children grow up.  They knew that any moment could be their last.  Still they marched on, pushing the enemy back and liberating town after town.  They knew the consequence would be horrific if they gave up.  They couldn’t let that evil flood the world so they sacrificed everything they had, sometimes their very lives, to stop it. 

My grandpa came home from the war but so many of his friends didn’t.  With the rest of the country he mourned the loss.  “Oh my friends, my friends forgive me That I live and you are gone.  There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.  There’s a pain goes on and on” (Les Miserables).  Yet he knew that their sacrifice was not in vain.  Good triumphed and freedom prevailed.  The price of that freedom was sealed with their blood. 

What lessons can the Greatest Generation teach us?  What can we learn from their sacrifice?  What hope can they instill?  What light can they give us in a world that feels so dark and alone?  What would they say to us today if they were here?

“Never give up!  Don’t you ever give up!  The way may be dark but there is light up ahead.  Keep on marching.  Keep on fighting.  Endure to the end.  Freedom is worth the sacrifice!”