I am especially grateful today for the dedicated service of America's service members -- the extraordinary men and women who stand bravely in defense of this great Nation. They are America's truest patriots, and it is an honor and a privilege to support them. There are many "patriotic" quotes out there, but I offer these two for your possible reflection today:"Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war."
--Thucydides
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stewart Mill
May God Bless the United States of America, its Service Members and their families.
