If You're Reading This

This week the world will pay tribute to Michael Jackson in a star-studded, multi-million dollar, internationally televised event. Taking nothing away from his achievements or the tragedy of his death, I wish that we spent equal time memorializing fallen US soldiers.

Regardless of politics, they died in the pursuit of freedom - whether for us or for someone else. I wish we were as concerned about the families and children left behind by their deaths as we are about who will gain custody of Jackson's kids or who will share in his fortune. Financially, his kids will never want for anything. The children of soldiers who will never come home face a very different future.

As far as we know, the King of Pop left no last letter to his loved ones. In contrast, this music video to Travis Tritt's moving song includes portions of real last letters from soldiers who came home as cargo rather than as passengers. Rather than focusing on how entertainment moguls and idols feel about Michael's death, why don't we spend some time staring into the faces of the families in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZnZ6NiTdg&feature=related

If you're reading this, you just finished celebrating the 4th of July. If you're reading this, you might have taken a day off work, attended a patriotic concert or parade, or watched some fireworks. If you're reading this, today you re-enter your daily life. If you're reading this, you owe some tribute to fallen soldiers who preserved your freedom to do all of this. From the Revolutionary War, to Normandy, to Afghanistan, to numerous missions we will never hear about, we owe this freedom to them. Regardless of politics, they're still not coming home, their families continue to grieve, and this wasn't just another "holiday weekend" for them.