On Memorial Day, we will remember those who died serving our country. In many cases, we will decorate their graves. We will acknowledge their sacrifices and the debt America owes them. That is as it should be. However, it is equally important to honor these men and women every day as we go about our lives. In honoring our debt to these heroes, we preserve and protect the very freedoms for which they died.

When we go to church, when we comment on our dislike for a political figure, when we read about government affairs in the newspaper, we are exercising our freedoms. It is important to be aware of that fact. It is also equally important for citizens to be aware of threats to freedom. From efforts to curtail free speech to attempts to conceal government documents, everyone should realize that each little hit to our freedoms hurts our democratic foundation. We should also work harder to educate our young people about our freedoms and what they mean. Far too many can't even name the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was observed for the first time on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate solders. General James A. Garfield, who late became President of the United States, spoke at the first Memorial Day ceremony saying: "We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue."

Some years later, on May 30, 1884, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., made a long and eloquent address on the purpose of Memorial Day. During the delivery, he said: "So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up, we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly."