What Does A Hero Look Like?

It's really hard to define what a hero looks like. 

-They come in all sizes, tall and short, thin and bulky.  They range from the very young, to the old and experienced.  They have big feet, failing eyes, poor hearing, and even weakened heartbeats. 

-They are black, white, yellow, red and brown. They come from the very poorest of families and they come from the homes of the rich and the powerful.

-They speak English, and they speak Japanese. Spanish is their native tongue. They are Native Americans, and they are immigrants from other lands.

-They may wear the uniform of a soldier, a sailor, a Coast Guardsman, Marine, an aviator, or even a Merchant Marine.  They are eager to fight, and they are men who hesitate to bear arms but will lay down their own lives to serve others.

-They are career military men and women, reluctant draftees, and eager young volunteers. They served as lowly privates, astute non-coms, young and inexperienced second lieutenants, and high ranking generals.  They were infantrymen, combat engineers, Green Berets, Rangers, and truck drivers.

-They love to fly, and they are fearful of heights.  They can swim like a fish and they can't swim at all.

-They hail from big city tenements, urban high rises, suburban homes, rural farms, and estates of the wealthy.

-They are orphans, they come from broken homes, and they hail from loving families. They are high school drop outs and college graduates, talented athletes and clumsy young men and women with two left feet.

-They are men and women who love their country, revere the flag, and are willing to serve.  They have traveled to foreign places with names like Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and the Volturno River.  They've faced frigid winters at the Chosin Reservoir, mountainous jungles near Khe Sahn, and prison camps in Hanoi.

-They did their duty...did it well...and then came home to become doctors, lawyers, farmers, businessmen, and blue collar workers.  Sadly, many of them never came home.

These men of the military and thousands more gave themselves for the cause of freedom, liberty, and justice. Without their sacrifice we would not be able to enjoy those things today. God bless you and your families on this Memorial Day 2011.

(To hear this entire message go to our website, http://www.donaldsoncog.com/)