LET US NOT FORGET

Memorial Day is the day that we honor those people who fought, and fight, for our freedoms.

It takes tremendous courage to pick up a weapon and take it to a place where you may be lawfully ordered to risk your life. There can never be enough respect for those people who obeyed a lawful order which resulted in their death.

Our police officers also obey orders in an attempt to keep us all free from violence. Sometimes the violent kill police officers. There can never be enough respect for those people who risk their lives to arrest a violent person.

Sometimes people risk their lives demonstrating on the streets for an important cause. There is NEVER an excuse to use violence while demonstrating. Throwing rocks at police officers and/or their horses is unacceptable behavior. It makes the cause of the demonstrators weaker, and makes their opponents stronger. It makes it easier to say, "Just ignore those crazy violent people out there on the streets."

Our democracy has multiple rules regarding what is a lawful order. Sometimes the pressure to make immediate gains blinds officers, who then make unlawful decisions.

Democracy is never easy. In a democracy you make progress by convincing people that your ideas are good ideas that will work for us all.