Warriors for freedom must be honored

Today we salute our veterans. On this day, we acknowledge the selfless men and women who have traded complacency for purpose and comfort for conviction.

Throughout the years, they have answered the call to protect not only their home and country, but also that elusive proposition "that all men are created equal." Their sacrifices have secured our freedom and planted the seeds of liberty in distant lands.

Even now we have troops engaged in that battle. While we respect all people's rights to their own opinion - and encourage them to shout them from the rooftops, if they'd like - we must also insist that they hold in certain reverence those who are serving. And that they mourn with those families who have lost a loved one.

For the fifth year in a row, Carson Middle School held a Veterans Day Celebration in its cafeteria Wednesday.

In 2001, Camron Wipfli told his eighth-grade classmates, "Our freedoms that we've taken for granted do have a price. The lives of our soldiers who have been lost in these battles for freedom must be honored."

We agree with Camron. And we appreciate this school, its teachers and the veterans who volunteer their time to spread that message to our students.

By paying tribute to these veterans, we gain a truer understanding of that cause to which they pledged their valor.

So as we salute veterans today, may we also resolve to be valiant in our individual responsibilities to champion those liberties they fought to protect.