Celebrating Memorial Day Part 1

Today is Memorial Day, and in honor of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms, Gen Z Conservative and I decided to do another guest post on each other's blog. Specifically, to do Memorial Day themed posts on each other's blog. To every veteran reading this, thank you for your service. And to those who paid the ultimate price, this one is for you guys. As Justin Moore said, "Here's to the ones who didn't make it back home."

Quote by John F. Kennedy on Gratitude

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter the words, but to live by them." -JFK on gratitude

My Take on JFK's Quote

JFK was a wise man who knew much about the American spirit. His quotations on ensuring the survival of liberty and the 2nd Amendment cover just what makes America exception and what has defined America for so long. That's why, on Memorial Day, this quote by JFK on gratitude is one that you must read and understand.

I'll be upfront; the aforementioned quote by JFK on gratitude actually comes from a JFK Veteran's Day speech, not a Memorial Day speech. But still, it applies to Memorial Day. As JFK says in it, we Americans shouldn't just speak the words we know we're supposed to say about veterans, living or dead. Instead, we should try to live out our appreciation for their sacrifice.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens. At a base level, I think most Americans do appreciate the sacrifices veterans made and the causes they died for. They learned (maybe) about the world wars and what the "Greatest Generation" went through to win those wars. Similarly, when they see soldiers at the airport or on the streets, they do what they can to say, "thank you." And that is meaningful, to some extent at least.

But, this Memorial Day, I challenge you, as I did last Fourth of July and JFK did all those Veteran's Days ago, to live out your appreciation for their sacrifice. Show them that a freedom-loving America does exist and that what they fought for was not in vain, but rather to preserve the American way of life.

And in some quarters, that American way of life does exist and is well worth fighting for. Many Americans still appreciate what the Founding Fathers called the spirit of '76; individual liberty, capitalism, limited government, and a wholehearted defense of freedom around the world are traditional American values that our soldiers fought for and die for overseas. Many Americans still believe in them; they just need to read this quote by JFK on gratitude and start acting that out.

This Memorial Day happens to fall during a time of great fear and panic in America. For some reason, Americans are quaking with terror at the thought of potentially catching a slightly worse version of the flu. As a result, civil liberties have been crushed under the weight of Big Government policies and petty tyrants across the US. Americans of every stripe, Young conservatives especially, need to take the opportunity on Memorial Day to read the quote by JFK on gratitude, and reflect on the sacrifices our veterans have made in defense of liberty.

Are we really going to surrender those essential liberties, the very lifeblood of America, the values Americans have fought and died for over two centuries now, because of a virus? We shouldn't. If we do, then all those sacrifices will have been for naught.

America is at a crossroads in its great moral struggle, the struggle that has defined generation after generation of American life. That struggle is the fight over liberty. Our veterans have fought and died to preserve our liberty, but now most politicians and Americans want to give it all up for naught. They need to read this quote by JFK on gratitude and learn that honoring veterans on Memorial Day doesn't just mean saying "thank you." It also means standing up for your rights and doing what is necessary on the home front to ensure that liberty is preserved.

By: Gen Z Conservative, whose blog is www.genzconservative.com. 

Also, check out my guest post on GenZ Conservative’s blog.