How fortunate are we to live in a time where, for the most part, our world is at peace.
It is, indeed, very sad there are some places — the Middle East, Yemen and several other locations come to mind — where peace just doesn’t seem possible.
But for us, in America, we can say that there has not been a major terrorist attack on our soil since that awful Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 lives, many Americans, were lost in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
We can say this because our military is the strongest in the world and so many women and men have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live freely and without the fear of attacks — may they be domestic or international.
Among many offensives, including the first Gulf War, Korea, Vietnam, World Wars I & II and the most recent ones in Afghanistan and Iraq, countless lives have been lost in battle.
And many of those lives were most recently lost by people who decided, on their own and without a draft, that it was important to serve this great country.
Most asked for nothing in return.
And as the old saying goes, all gave some, while some gave all.
Having had a muted celebration of Memorial Day 2020, in large part because of the Coronavirus, we take time to pause to remember all the lives lost by those who served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
And though Memorial Day’s stated intent is to remember those who died in service, we also take time to remember all those who are currently serving — or who have served — and fortunately made it home alive.
We are grateful to the countless women and men who put on the uniform to fight so that we can all live without fear.
Our world may not be perfect — we’ve learned that all too well in 2020 — but the sacrifices our military makes in service to the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” have, indeed, made us a more perfect union.
May we never forget those who left their homes one day, never ever to return.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.