Today is the day that we set aside, as a nation, to honor those who pay the price of freedom.  It is something that we don’t do often enough.

I’m afraid, like too many other blessings, we have come to take our freedom for granted.  The price for our freedom has been very high, but it is not a price we can ever fully pay.

Freedom demands sacrifice.  It is the men and women of our armed forces that step up to make this sacrifice.  It is their blood and sweat that is spilled on the battlefields, both abroad and here at home.

America is not perfect, not by any means; however, it is still that glimmering hope of freedom to many around the world.  It is still that city set upon a hill, shining brightly, and proclaiming, “Let Freedom Ring!”

As you go through your busy and hectic life today, take a moment to stop and think about these brave men and women who protect our freedom.  Say a prayer for them.  Show them that we see their sacrifices and that we are grateful.

A Veterans Day Reminder

Last year, during his speech at the Republican National Convention, Mike Huckabee related the story of one school teacher who did just that.  What follows is an excerpt from that speech.

On the first day of school in 2005, Martha Cothren, a teacher at the Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, was determined that her students would not take their education or their privileges as American for granted.  And with the principal of her school’s permission, she removed all the desks from her classroom on that first day of school in 2005.

How Do You Earn a Desk?

Now, the students walked into an empty classroom and they said, “Ms. Cothren, where’s our desk?”  She said, “You get a desk in my classroom when you tell me how you earn it.”

Well, some of them said, “Making good grades.”  She said, “Well, you ought to make good grades in my class, but that won’t earn you a desk.”  Another student said, “I guess we get a desk when we behave.”  Martha said, “You will behave in my classroom.  But that won’t get you a desk either.”

Ms. Cothren has Flipped Out

No one in first period guessed right.  Same for second period.  By lunch, the buzz was all over the campus.  Ms. Cothren had flipped out, wouldn’t let her students have a desk.

Kids started using their cell phones.  They called their parents.  By early afternoon, all four of the local network TV affiliates had camera crews out at the school to report on this teacher who wouldn’t let her students have a desk unless they could tell her how to earn it.  By the final period, no one had guessed correctly, so the students filed in.  Martha said, “Well, I didn’t think you would figure it out, so I’m going to tell you.”

The Answer Revealed

And with that, she went to the door of her classroom and motioned, and in walked over 20 veterans, some of them wearing the uniforms from days gone by, every one of them carrying a school desk.  As they carefully and quietly arranged those desks in neat rows, Martha said,

You don’t have to earn your desk, because these guys, they already did.

These — These brave veterans had gone halfway around the world, giving up their education, interrupting their careers and families so that we could have the freedom that we have.  Martha told them,

No one charged you for your desk, but it wasn’t really free.  These guys bought it for you. And I hope you never, ever forget it.

And I wish, ladies and gentlemen, I wish we would all remember that being American is not just about the freedom we have; it is about those who gave it to us.”

Thank You Veterans!

May God Keep You Strong and Safe While You Keep Us Secure.

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