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Military appreciation month: Celebrating military families

May is a month of celebration for the military family. A time set aside to thank our heroes from the frontline to the home front. While we enjoy the spring, the flowers, the new life all around us, our military service members and families, face the challenges of military service and the sacrifice that service has brought in terms of separation, loss, injury and anxiety.

There are faces to the statistics we hear reported on the front page. Hearts and souls and minds of our nation’s most noble servants are what lie behind the political jousting splashed over the news. Tears of sorrow roll down the faces of the most innocent of children, the sons and daughters of our nation’s service members are the reality behind the headlines. These children live every moment of their lives fully aware of the meaning of our Pledge of Allegiance, recited through the bored lips of most American youth each morning.

Let us stop, as a nation, for a moment in this month to remember them. Let Americans across the nation consider using this time of spring to renew their commitment and appreciation to the men and women who have served our nation, both past and present.

Let us use this time to celebrate their families who keep our home front alive with their spirit and their unsung patriotism. Their loved ones have traveled to a strange land. They battle loneliness and have answered our country’s call to serve and bring that seed of hope to another nation. They are alone, working to band with their brothers, to survive — to bring hope — to one day come home.

It is difficult to remain aware of the sacrifice of military families. It is difficult to remain aware and connected to the loss of life, limb and, in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder, the emotional peace we each take for granted every day.

But, it is our duty as citizens, as faithful children of God, as caring humans, to carry the lamp and recognize the meaning of duty and celebrate, embrace and support all those who answer the call.

So many families in our nation will sit alone in their gardens, while we enjoy our family picnics. Their table will be quieter than ours. Their hearts heavier. They will carry worries that we do not share, but can remember.

We can give thanks for their service and pray for the safety of their loved ones until they return.

May is also a time to remember those who will not return. Their chair will remain empty. Our hearts go out to their families. Their loved one will have sacrificed all in service to their country. This is the price paid by these families for each one of us, the sacrifice they make on our behalf, for our freedom, for our security, for our nation to remain a nation of peace and prosperity. It is a high price paid for us, the heaviest of burdens — and one that should never be forgotten. For these families, and the sacrifice of all those who gave their lives before them, we have a duty to give thanks and remember.

There will be some who return — forever changed by their service. Although war changes all, some of our country’s loved ones will return without their arms, their legs or perhaps a piece of their spirit, a body or mind broken by war. They will return to their families needing love and care greater than before. For these brothers and sisters, returning home after sacrificing not just their time, but pieces of themselves, we give thanks.

We give thanks and remember that each day we waken rested. We remember those who pray for a one night’s sleep without nightmares. We give thanks that for each step we take with our legs; there are those who have sacrificed their mobility. We give thanks that for each vision we see, every time we are able to look at our loved ones, have the ability to revel in their joy. There are those returning without sight and will never see their loved one’s smile.

Most of all, we give thanks that we are blessed. Blessed to be a part of a nation that is so prosperous. Blessed that we have our families and shelter and food. We are also blessed to have the ability to pray for ourselves that we have the strength and courage to maintain our awareness of our brother’s sacrifice — to give to our community in any way we can — as they are giving in service to their call. This is our duty — to give thanks, to pray, to remember.