I read an interesting article just yesterday about the times the flag is lowered to half staff. We all know that when we drive by a building and see a flag at half staff it symbolizes mourning. It is a sing that something tragic has occurred and that the nation is grieving a loss. In the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, flags across the country were lowered to half staff. Innocent students and professors had been killed in a senseless act of violence and the nation grieved for their loss. And we should grieve. It was a terrible loss and showing our sorrow and our support by lowering the flag was appropriate. But, as this article pointed out, we never lower the flag when one of our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan is killed. When we see a story of another IED or an ambush that has claimed the life of an American hero, do we ever see the flag lowered the next day? No.

It saddens me to think that we have come to a point where we take the loss of our service members for granted. Have we become so immune to the shock and the sorrow of one of our young men or women losing their life defending this country that we no longer need to acknowledge that loss? Have we come to expect those losses? Have we come to expect the men and women who serve this country to give their lives? The price of freedom is sacrifice. The cost of war is the lives of those who are willing to fight. That is no secret and it is not a surprise. But simply because we know war comes with death does not mean that does has lost its sting.

After September 11th, the nation mourned for the innocent lives lost because of a few evil men. Flags were lowered, funds were raised, donations given to the families who had lost their loved ones. None of that has been done for the men and women of our armed services who have given their lives trying to prevent another September 11th. Our troops have volunteered to take up the fight, they have volunteered to put their lives on the line. They know they might never come home again and still they go. But that doesn’t give the rest of us a pass. It doesn’t give us the right to take their sacrifice as for granted. Every death of a service member should be honored and acknowledged.