Memorial Day 2021 Speech

First, I would like to thank all the organizers of this ceremony today. Their time and passion to ensure we have a place to honor, to remember, and to mourn is one of the greatest gifts they can give our community.

Today, we honor all those who were so brave to offer themselves to the cause of our great country and remember everyone who sacrificed everything so that we all might endure and prosper.

Sacrifice means to surrender, relinquish, or permit injury, for the sake of something more or something greater than oneself. The loved ones that we remember today were as diverse and as varied as our country and yet it is their similar purpose, shared values, and sacrifice that is most instructive. They stood firm against insurmountable odds and bravely stepped forward in service of our country, our communities, and our families.

While their actions shall never be forgotten it is their undying belief in a higher purpose that drove them and sustained them that I find myself reflecting on, finding inspiration in, and drawing hope from.

This hope stems from their purpose and it lives in their sacrifice and high resolve for a better tomorrow. That resolve forged opportunity for all of us and in so doing that hope now resides with us. We must honor their sacrifice by not letting the light of high resolve be extinguished because we failed to remember that together we carry the golden hopes of the future and that we too shall pass that hope onto our children’s generation.

Living up to such a legacy can seem daunting.  However, I am certain, together, we can achieve it because the cornerstone of our victory is set by the lessons, we have learned from those we honor here today. As President Theodore Roosevelt stated, “We have learned that victory can be won by clean and honest fighting for the loftiest of causes and by fighting in honorable fashion for the good of mankind; fearless for the future; unheeding for our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes.” With lessons like that, we can stand at the edge of any Armageddon and return victorious.

We all should be so bold as to sacrifice for each other. The greatest honor we can bestow upon every person who sacrificed their life for us is to take their lessons and use them to build a better tomorrow. One that that moves us all forward together to a place, where one day, such a sacrifice may be unnecessary.