How amazing is this country? This country that recognizes the value of freedom and whose citizens are willing to sacrifice their lives to help others experience freedom. This country that is willing to die to be free. Kathryn and I went to Washington, D.C. on Saturday on the way up to Baltimore to see our cousins. We stopped to visit the monuments that I haven't seen since I was no older than 14. Hard to believe that was actually 14 years ago! It was a very reflective, emotional couple of hours as I really started to understand what those monuments stand for.
The Vietnam War Memorial was so touching. As we walked along the wall, staring at the 58,245 names, we noticed that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE was absolutely silent. All the people who had been in conversations moments before, children poking their brothers and sisters, begging their parents for ice cream, all of them were silent as they moved along the wall. Although, of course, no one had told them to be silent. I thought of the single sentence carved in to the Korean War Memorial, "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met." It moved me to tears to realize that all of these memorials were honoring family members who believed that freedom was more important than their lives. We found the name of one of our mom's cousins who died in the Vietnam War.
It was the first time I had seen the new World War II Memorial. That was the most amazing monument I've ever seen. It quickly moved to the top of my "Favorite Monuments Ever" list. It is so beautiful, surrounded by every state and covered in quotes that showed what this war meant. The very first one that you see surrounds a pedestal and says, "We came to liberate, and not to conquer, to restore freedom and to end tyranny." Again, it comes back to freedom. The reason we fight. The reason we help. The reason we die. And the reason that Christ died for us. It's always about freedom, and it always has been.
As we walked through the World War II Memorial, I had a strange feeling that I couldn't quite explain, other than I knew that every time I tried to talk to my sister about what we were seeing, I couldn't speak. Tears would come to my eyes every time I opened my mouth to talk. Kathryn finally said, "There's a weird feeling here...kind of like a tingling..." I was doing okay holding back the tears, until I saw this beautiful wall in the center of the memorial. It was covered with stars and said, "Here we mark the price of freedom." Freedom costs. From the Korean War Memorial, "Freedom is not free."I am so proud to call myself an American and be a part of this country that honors freedom over life. To all the men and women who died so that I can be free, thank you.
2 comentarios:
Thank you SOOOO MUCH for taking me up there Beth! I had such an awesome time with you and with the rest of our family! What a blessing it is to be able to spend time together and to WANT to spend time together! What a blessing it is that we understand and appreciate (though we may slightly take it for granted sometimes) the amazing sacrifice of our military and of our Savior.
----And on a not serious, and incredibly light hearted note...I still think MAYBE they meant Oscar Stars.
I am glad you got so much out of that!
I got a lot out of the WWII memorial since both my grandpas fought in that.
And I got a lot out of the Vietnam memorial for the same reasons you said, that there is an eerie but reverent silence that comes over people.
Although it is harder to be "proud" to be an American here in Europe where all you here is poo-poo about the US, I still declare that I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!
Thank you Lord, for the great purposes you have with our country!
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