Ronald Reagan said that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”   Reagan’s words echo those of George Washington, 200 years earlier, who—as perhaps our nation’s greatest veteran—recognized that “[t]he willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”

Monday is Veterans Day—a day set aside for that very purpose.  We celebrate it here at school today and honor the veterans among us for their service.  We thank you all for performing your great and noble duty to fight and protect our freedom, and we do so by humbly performing our modest but essential duty to honor that legacy.  As far as it depends on us, the freedom you defended will not go extinct on our watch.

It is particularly appropriate that we honor you today at Columbus Classical Academy—the day on which we conclude our morning reflections on virtue, what Augustine called rightly ordered love.  For as G.K. Chesterton reminds us, “[t]he true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” 

Thank you for your service; thank you for our freedom; and thank you for loving what was behind you.