A Thank You
On this Veteran's Day
On this Veteran’s Day, for all who have served, please accept my sincere Thank You for your willingness to stand in the breach.
On a day, such as today, I can’t help but think of our Masonic ritual:
“As the Flag is retired let us stand at salute in tribute to the emblem of the Nation that
guarantees to its citizens the rights of free assembly, free speech, free worship – The rights of
free men and of Freemasons.”
Free assembly, free speech, free worship. Liberty. The western enlightenment values our Craft has always stood for. Values that our veterans, not only United States veterans, but veterans from around the free world have risked everything to protect.
Thank you.
In Flanders fields, the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The farther the three-plus decades I served retreat behind me, the more gratitude I feel to the citizens of the nation for entrusting me to play my minute role in the defense of this nation. I am indebted to the nation, for it shaped me as much as the Craft has shaped me over the past two decades.