Salute

Screwed into the frame of the front door of my childhood home was a battered old flagpole bracket. Memorial Day was one of the many days my father would slide our American flag into place, on display from dawn to dusk.

The flag was an object that inspired a deep reverence in my family, derived in large part from my father's service as a career military officer, WWII combat veteran, and recipient of the Purple Heart. He knew countless soldiers who lost their lives in battle. Many more whose injuries, both physical and emotional, would haunt them for the remainder of their lives.

As we honor the dead, we remember not just their sacrifice, but the patriotic conviction that put them in harms way. 

"A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation's flag, sees not the flag, but the nation itself." – Henry Ward Beecher