Freedom: The Most Expensive Commodity

It is Memorial Day, 2025….and I remember.

I choose to. I freely choose to remember the names of young men with whom I served.

Young men who went to hard places to do hard things.

Young men who did not come home.

Young men who gave a ration of heat to their enemy and left their all on the battlefield.

I remember 1LT McRae, SPC Eyerly, and SPC Linden.

I remember standing in formation with the men of the 2-162nd Infantry on FOB Volunteer in Baghdad as their boots, rifles, and helmets were positioned in front of us. Grown men wept.

And those same grown men did not rest until they hunted down those who were responsible.

That was 21 years ago next week. That was yesterday.

It is fitting that we as a nation memorialize our fallen and give them honor. I pity the nation that does not acknowledge such sacrifice. In America we value life, but we also honor sacrifice. As individuals, as communities, as states and as a nation, we endeavor to honor the fact that we are made free by those sacrifices.

We honor who they were, but we also honor what they did, and why they did it. Honor can and should be coupled with memorial.

President Teddy Roosevelt, himself a veteran of the Spanish-American War, said of Memorial Day, “There should be but few such holidays. To increase their number is to cheapen them.” Roosevelt went on to say, “[O]n this day, the 30th of May, we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle, who poured out their blood like water in order that the mighty national structure raised by the far-seeing genius of Washington, Franklin, Marshall, Hamilton, and the other great leaders of the Revolution, great framers of the Constitution, should not crumble into meaningless ruins.”

Roosevelt spoke from experience. He led a nation. He fought for the nation. And he lost three of his four sons during their military service to the nation. Roosevelt was a three-time Gold Star father.

Roosevelt knew firsthand that Arlington, and other cemeteries throughout America, are where the accounts are kept. Those are the recordkeeping sites where we keep the ledger of freedom. A ledger with line-items filled with sacrifice. Where the profit and loss is costly, yet always leans to the positive so long as freedom remains paid for. A ledger that proves that freedom is the most expensive of all commodities.

Freedom is too often just that nebulous thing that is spoken of but never actually tangible. You can almost touch it, but not quite. But if you lose it for one second you suddenly become keenly aware how precious it really is. Freedom is equal to air, water, and food as one of life’s essential components. “The price of freedom may be high, but never so costly as the loss of freedom.” Said, President Ronald Reagan. He was right. We cannot lose it. It is too valuable. It is too necessary. It has been bought at such great cost. Thus, annotations are continuously made so that the freedom ledger remains in the black.

Yes, freedom is precious, yet too easily taken for granted, too easily forgotten. But never easily gained. Freedom, in fact, is the costliest necessity known to man. More costly than diamonds or gold. Paid for by the blood, sweat, and labor of men and women. For Americans the debt was first incurred in 1776 and refinanced in countless wars, operations, and covert actions over 250 years.

But as somber as Memorial Day may be the dead would not want drawn faces or somber moments to be the full measure of the day. If you served yourself then remember your brothers-in-arms who served with you. Take stock of the reason why Memorial Day exists. Remember those it was designed to honor. Say their names. Pause, reflect, and then tell the stories. Laugh, raise a glass, and celebrate their memory. Honor them, respect them, be thankful for them. Be glad that you knew them. Acknowledge with grateful hearts and full lives that the fallen gave you that very special something that cost them everything.

So, my hope is that this weekend you will have a wonderful time with family and friends. Sleep a bit later than usual. Eat some hot dogs and have a beer. But somewhere in the midst take a second, pause, and remember why you have that day off. Tell your kids and grandkids to appreciate the freedom - actual freedom - that they enjoy here in the greatest nation on the earth. Tell them that freedom is not free, and that men and women have gone before us to ensure that freedom remains dynamic, and not static.

They bought you a gift. They paid handsomely for it. A gift that many in the world view with covetous jealousy. A gift called freedom.