Honor the Heroes

Heroes don’t get to choose their wars. They don’t choose their fights. Most heroes would prefer not to have to fight at all. But they fight anyway.

Heroes don’t want to leave their loved ones to travel across the world to fight. They don’t want to endanger their families by risking their lives. But they leave their families behind when they are called, knowing that their families face their own fears.

Heroes don’t get to decide what they see, hear, smell, touch, taste, or experience. They don’t get to filter out unimaginably horrific experiences, and they don’t get to decide whether or how those experiences change them. But they are changed.

Heroes don’t get to decide when they go home. Some heroes come home with physical and emotional injuries. Some heroes don’t get to come home at all.

Heroes do what is asked of them. They do their duty to their country. And they do their duty to the hero standing next to them. They do what must be done, believing that anyone would do the same.

Heroes don’t choose to be heroes at all. Today, honor the heroes.