Gone. The men and women we honor each Memorial Day are gone. They died so that others could live.

In a world where individuals, governments and businesses have by and large become selfish and greedy, the idea of giving one’s life for others seems like a foreign concept.

Yet it is one we should all certainly consider on Memorial Day. Veterans do, you can see it in their eyes. The eternal question is and will always be, was it worth it? Was it worth it to have hundreds of thousands of our bravest and brightest taken to the sacrificial altar of war and killed?

For their sake and our country’s, we hope so. But what a terrible price.

We hope everyone will consider the price they paid this weekend and remember that those who have fallen on the field of battle did so for us. The bullets and bombs that took them from this earth could have easily taken other living veterans.

But they didn’t. Chance or fate stepped in and determined who would step off the transports and ships home and who would be carried.

We must not forget the sacrifice of those who fought and died for this country nor should we ever trivialize the trials of those who returned. They are the great pillars that support the United States of America.

We are thankful.

We are grateful.

We are humbled.

We will not forget.