Don't miss this day for giving thanks.

As most of us in the United States get ready to fire up our grills this Memorial Day, let's not miss this opportunity to contemplate - if even for a few moments - the tremendous sacrifice our men and women in the armed forces have given and continue to give so that we can enjoy this peace.   Many of you who know me, know that I can be a very intense perfectionist.  And while there are a few benefits to this, one of the shortfalls is not stopping to be thankful for what we already HAVE.   Yet when I think about the hundreds of thousands of young men and women in our history who have died while still in the prime of life to advance our pursuit of freedom and to protect it, I am truly humbled.  When I think about all the people and years that I've been blessed to enjoy - even the bad ones - while so many have given up their lives for my freedom, what else can I do but to count each day a blessing! We know that so many in the world suffer terribly because they don't have the freedoms that we in most of the Western world now enjoy.  And while many of us differ on how to best help those with less, let's certainly make each day of life we have worthy of the great sacrifice of those who have died for our freedom.   Let us live in peace with each other and invite those outside our circles to join us so the day comes that "OUR" men and women and "THEIR" men and women never have die at arms again. War is a terrible and horrible thing that is the most difficult aspect of life for me to reconcile.   I NEVER want to have to take the life of another nor do I want anyone else to have to.   It therefore falls on me (and I believe all of us) to use this freedom to create a world where war is no longer needed and battle is but a distant memory... While we have peace, let's reach out a little more, let's help a little more, let's talk a little more and let's forgive each other a little more.  Let's create lives and communities that are honorable tributes to those who made our peace possible.  May you have a peaceful Memorial Day.