400 - Memorial Day: Remember the Cost

0:00Bruce Whipple:Today is Memorial Day in the United States, and I want to take a few minutes today for something different. No selling, no offer, no business lesson, just remembrance. As I record this, I'm looking at old black and white photographs of my father from World War II. He served in Africa. In one photograph, he's in his uniform, young, serious, and looking straight into the camera. In another, he's standing in the African heat near a horse. His horse was named Cirrus. Not surprising for a weather forecaster. That's what he did in Africa. In another, he's riding through an open landscape with camels nearby.

0:44Bruce Whipple:They're simple photographs, but they stop me. Because when we talk about war, service, sacrifice, and freedom, it's easy for those words to become too big and too abstract. But they are not abstract to the people who live them. They were young men. They were sons. They were fathers. They were brothers. They had families, plans, fears, hopes, and lives waiting for them back home. Some came home. Many did not. And Memorial Day is for those who did not. That distinction matters. Veterans Day honors all who served. Memorial Day honors those who died while serving. And today, we should remember that.

1:32Bruce Whipple:Years ago, I wrote about Ben Skarden. Ben survived the Bataan Death March during World War II. He suffered through conditions most of us cannot even begin to comprehend. Starvation, disease, brutality, exhaustion, the kind of suffering that tests the limits of the human body and the human spirit. Later in life, at 99 years old, he walked in the Bataan Memorial Death March again. Think about that. At 99 years old, he was still walking to remember. This is not just endurance. This is duty. That is a man saying, this must not be forgotten. And that is why Memorial Day matters, because we forget too easily.

2:18Bruce Whipple:We get busy. We get distracted. We complain about small first world inconveniences and act as if ordinary comfort is guaranteed, but it is not. Freedom is not guaranteed. Safety is not guaranteed. Opportunity is not guaranteed. The ability to build a life raves a family, speak freely, worship freely, build a business, criticize your government, choose your path, and live without fear of invasion or tyranny is not the normal condition of much of human history. It was protected. It was defended. And in many cases, it was paid for by people who never came home. That is the cost we remember today.

3:05Bruce Whipple:Not in the abstract, not as a slogan, but personally, a mother lost a son, a wife lost a husband, a child grew up without a father, A family received news that changed everything. A chair at the table stayed empty. A life that should have continued did not. That is Memorial Day. So today I would ask you to do something simple. Take a few minutes and remember, if you know a veteran, call them, thank them. Let them know their service matters. But also remember that today is specifically for those who pay the ultimate price. Say a prayer, if that is your practice. Read one story about someone who served and did not come home.

3:48Tell your children what this day means. Look at an old photograph in your own family if you have one. And if you do not, borrow the memory of someone else's family and honor that. Because memory matters. Gratitude matters. And freedom, once taken for granted, is very easily misunderstood. As I look at those old photographs of my father, I'm grateful he came home. And today belongs to them. To those who served, thank you. To the families who lost someone, we remember with you. And to those who paid the ultimate price, may we never forget. So I hope you do that. I hope you take a few minutes to think about Memorial Day, think about the cost that some paid, and think about the freedoms we have in America that were paid for by those who paid the ultimate price.

4:47Some came home, but most that came home never came home the same. So take some time today to thank those that did come home for their service. And if you know a family who lost someone, thank them as well for the loss that their family suffered to protect the freedoms that we enjoy today.