Memorial Day

            I started to write today of how proud I am that my son and my niece are both graduating from high school this year and my nephew is graduating from college, but today is Memorial Day and I can’t let this day pass without blogging about it.  I’ll just take this moment once again to congratulate my son Joseph, my niece Bernadette, and my nephew Jon for their accomplishments of finishing another chapter in their young lives.  I also wish to admonish all of them that they have a long way to go to true adulthood and a good start would be them gaining a true understanding of what this holiday is all about.

            When I think about Memorial Day, my first thoughts are usually centered on the price my own family has paid in service defending this great country of ours.  In my immediate family of origin alone, we have given over 55 years of service.  My late great father, Jack M. Goodwin, Sr., retired from the Air Force after a 21-year career, my brother Jim from the Navy after 30 years, and I myself was medically retired from the Army after 4.5 years.  If I stop to consider Uncles, Aunts, Cousins on both sides of my family, and also my Nephew Jody, there is over 200 years total service from just a couple of generations of two families.  Not one of us lost his or her life performing that duty, though none of us came through it unscathed.

            The fact is, serving in the military changes an individual.  I like to think it made me a better man than I had been before I joined.  Many of my relatives have seen combat, including my father and my brother.  Many of us have been honored for our service with awards, ribbons, medals, and commendations.  Most of us left the military service with some type of disability, but today is a special day set aside not just for those who have served, but for those who have paid the ultimate price in service.

            This year, this day is going to be one not soon forgotten in the town of Barnesville, GA for the mortal wounds of one of their native sons is still fresh.  Sergeant Davy Nathaniel Weaver was just killed in Afghanistan.  His body is currently enroute to Barnesville and his funeral is scheduled for May 31^st.  Sgt. Weaver had already served in Bosnia and Iraq and recently had the opportunity to retire from the Georgia National Guard, but reenlisted and asked for the assignment to Afghanistan.  Only a veteran can truly understand this choice.  This man, a husband and a father to three young children, served his country proudly and paid the ultimate price.

            I’m going on the record here in favor of pulling our troops out of Iraq, as I believe our mission there was complete the day Sadaam Hussein was executed.  That being said, I still know our troops in all locales around the world are following orders and fulfilling their duties as they swore to do when they joined.  It is an oath that I took earnestly and I know it’s one that every man and woman serving right now takes that way as well.  Just like you and I, each of them has their own opinion of the politics, but that is not the point.  The point is each individual that is serving is obeying the orders that he or she has been given and they are all defending the liberties and freedoms that you and I enjoy daily.  These people take their jobs more seriously than anyone who hasn’t served can ever understand.

            So, today when you fire up that grill, or travel to that lake, when you’re sitting there with your family relaxing in the sun or just doing whatever it is you’re doing, remember what this day is truly about.  It’s about those people, men and women, who have served and those who are still serving, so stop and say a prayer for them.  Remember to pray for those families back home who wonder when they will see their loved ones again.  Remember to pray for those families, like the Weavers, who will never see their loved ones again in this physical world.  Remember to offer up a prayer in thanksgiving for the people, like Sgt. Weaver, who gave their lives to that sacred duty.  Remember that freedom has a price and that there have been many brave, courageous people who have paid that price for you and that’s why this day is set aside.

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