Arlington National Cemetery - Field of Heroes

I had to go to a bowling center on Ft. Myer today. The GSA division I work in had a holiday party there this afternoon. I took the Metro to the Arlington Cemetery stop and walked through the cemetery. I asked the guard how to get through to the base and she told me a shortcut up past Arlington House. This was Robert E. Lee's home. If you know the history, you know that the North ceased his estate and started to use it as a cemetery during the Civil War. That is how Arlington came to be. In any even, as I was walking among the markers of brave men and women that have served our country in the military. How petty and small our day to day concerns seem to be in comparison. How late the train was running or how long we had to wait in line for that Christmas gift seems like a small price to pay in the face of individuals that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Without hesitation, nor duty to sense, they gave their lives in service to not only a nation, but to an ideal. And yes, they served to protect my rights and I feel that I honor their memories every time I exercise those rights -- even the unpopular ones. Regardless of the circumstances of their deaths, whether during an unpopular war or in peace time, they still gave their lives. Walking among those honored dead; one cannot help but be reminded that the people that serve our country by wearing a uniform make a choice. They, in many cases, give up a much easier future in other walks of life. While I may disagree with the policies of occasional megalomaniac in the White House, I truly hope that no one ever doubts that I and each and every American not only owe them everything, but we also owe them the duty to exercise the very freedoms they give us. For just as faith without works is dead, so falls citizenship without action.