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Memorial Day reminds us of our highest ideals — and the price we must sometimes pay for them
Every year, I’m struck by the powerful — and often, opposing — emotions that Memorial Day stirs. We celebrate our freedoms, and yet, we mourn the cost that they required. We look ahead to a bright future, while we remember the trials and challenges of the past. We honor those who served, but we grieve their loss. Celebration, and sadness. Gratitude, and remorse. Hope, and helplessness. Memorial Day is unique in evoking such a broad spectrum of feeling, because it is this holiday that speaks most keenly to our highest ideals, as well as the steep price we are willing to pay for them.
Guest Contributions
The Oregon Lottery’s Unique Support for Veterans
Oregon pioneers new level of commitment to veterans’ services with consistent share of all Lottery proceeds You know the old word association game? What would be the first thing you think of if you heard the phrase, “lottery funding”? For most people, “education” would probably spring most naturally to mind. This makes sense, considering that almost every state across the country has a lottery, the vast majority of which fund education programs to varying degrees (including Oregon’s). But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that lotteries support a number of different important causes. Oregon’s Lottery was founded in the 1980s,
K9s For Warriors – Because Together We Stand
The following article is a guest post reprinted with permission from ConsumersAdvocate.org. MEET JAMES AND DUNKIN James Rutland is a 12-year Army veteran who served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004, followed by two more tours in South Korea. He left the military in 2014, suffering from multiple medical conditions related to his service, including mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), sleep apnea, and hearing loss, to name a few. Most importantly, he suffered from depression and often thought about suicide. Thinking he could do it alone, Rutland tried healing from the trauma on his own. That wasn’t working.