A Spoiled Generation
Recently I drove through the cemetery where all of my grandparents are now buried. I paused for a few moments at each grave and thought of the heritage they had passed down to me. My Grandpa Pauley gets a great deal of discussion because of his ministry as a preacher of the gospel. The contribution of my Grandpa Martin was no less significant. He was an enlisted Navy man in WWII.
How I wish that I could go back and ask more questions about those days! He helped with the clean up at Pearl Harbor just after the attack. He was a part of “the greatest generation” – a generation that understood both the privilege and price of freedom.
My generation of Americans is spoiled. We have grown up taking for granted the freedom for which another generation fought and died. The generation coming along behind mine is even further removed from such sacrifice.
Today is a special day for our nation. At the end of a contentious election season we now pause to recognize the thousands of veterans who made possible the republic that we enjoy.
George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Veteran’s Day should be more than memories of the past; it should be a day of instruction for the future. Today should be the day that parents explain to their children the amazing liberty that is ours, and the price that has been paid to secure it.
Today should be the day that we honor those who continue to serve in defense of that freedom. It is one thing to secure liberty and quite another to sustain it.
Thank a veteran today. And thank God that you live in a land where we can have free elections…where we can enjoy freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition…where we have the right to bear arms, and so much more. Thank God for America
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Agreed. To see the students who are so spoiled that they cannot stand dissension from their own thoughts is alarming. After years living in Africa, Asia, and especially 26 years in Suriname, South America, i wonder what they would do when confronted with another culture.
Amen! Good to hear from you my friend.
Bro. Pauley,
Thanks for the thoughts and truth concerning Veteran’s Day! My dad also served, enlisted in 1943 and served into 1946 in the Pacific theater. Fortunately, he spent the entire war running an officer’s mess in Hawaii. My son, as you know, serves in the TN Air Guard and will soon be off to flight school to train to fly the KC-135. God bless our veterans past, present and future! Pray for those who have ministries to reach the military.
We appreciate the way your family has and is serving our country. Thank God for our veterans! Great to hear from you.
Well said my friend.
My first name is Howard (Good name, lol). I am named after my patriotic, military (Navy) uncle. God bless your grandpa, my uncle and the many others who give us such great liberties and examples!
Thank God for our strong patriotic and Christian heritage, may we do well to remember it, honor it and tell of it.
Thank you,
Pastor Scott Thomas
(Kilgore, TX)
Thank you my friend! God bless you and your family.
Scott, what heroes these men and women are, those who have served and who are now serving. A simple “thank you” seems so empty. We recently took some of the youth to the VA, served a meal, and the children sang and talked to the men and one lady. Such gracious and appreciative people they are.
God and the Soldier
God and the soldier we adore
In times of danger, not before
Danger passed and all things righted
God’s forgotten and the soldier slighted.
…..~Rudyard Kipling
Thanks for reading my thoughts and sharing yours… Wonderful!
Great thank you
Thank you for your comments. I just posted on Facebook a thank you to my husband (in heaven) who served during the Korean War and was stationed in Germany. I now have a grandson and two grandsons-in-law who are in the military and posted their photos, too. The younger generations today seem to have no clue what so many have sacrificed – many giving their very lives – to give us the freedoms with which we have been blessed! Thank you for the reminders!
Thank you for the sacrifice your family and so many others have made. God bless you richly!