Today I honor our armed forces and veterans. Today I honor all people who fight for freedom and reject the tyranny of dependence. May you all be blessed with safe journeys and good judgment.
Often we think the hard work is in freeing ourselves from the shackles that bind us. While gaining freedom may be a difficult task, none is so difficult as when independence is achieved. The real work is in discovering what is important to us and implementing the values and codes of honor in which we believe. Independence requires us to embrace not only the freedom, but the consequences, seen and unseen of our actions. Independence does not mean that we never err or suffer; freedom means living every day with a commitment to excellence, accepting the risks of acting in accordance to our Will, learning from our mistakes, and making amends when appropriate.
May you all gain the freedom which you seek, be it freedom from a bad habit, from debt or from ill health. So mote it be!