This past Monday we all took a break to remember those we have lost. Each year, Memorial Day serves as a stark reminder that life on this planet is a finite endeavor for the individual, but it should also remind everyone that it was our forbearers that made possible our lives today.

Here in America we enjoy many freedoms that citizens elsewhere simply do not, and we likely take those freedoms for granted. We can vote, our women drive and public news outlets have the freedom to print items that are not necessarily endorsed by the government.

We often hear that our veterans made this possible, and that is certainly true. We hope that everyone took a moment on Monday to at the very least pay their respects to the men and woman who sacrificed everything in defense of our nation and the freedoms our nation provides.

Since the Revolution, our nation has suffered thousands upon thousands of casualties of war. It was the actions of these people that ensured the tyranny of England ended, that our nation was not permanently splintered into a north and south, and that Germany and Japan did not take over the world.

And we also hope that at some point in your prayers or however it is you pay those respects, that not forgotten were those men and women who stayed behind during times of war, who ensured that while our military forces were laying everything on the line our nation remained one of virtue.

All of us living today owe all of these people a tremendous debt of gratitude that we can only hope to begin to repay by continuing to live our lives as Americans, as they would have certainly done themselves.

— The Hazard Herald