While you all are out grilling, playing volleyball, camping, fishing, spending time with family...

I sicerely hope you pause and realize what this day is for. Not for socializing, kicking off summer, or even just waving a flag.

Today is about remembering the amount of lives sacrificed over the last few hundred years so that you can be a free American.

Today is also not just about one war. Too many focus on the losses from Iraq and Afganistan and forget that many generations before us have felt the blow of foreign wars and the toll it extracted from the families of those who perished.

Think of the men who died simply for having the idea of a free country ruled by the people. Men like Nathan Hale who were hung for speaking out about liberty and the rights of the people so long ago.

Men who pledged their "lives, [their] fortunes, and [thier] sacred honor"

This is a day to reflect and be impacted by what so many sacrificed for you and for me.