Today we look back and embrace again the original meaning given to this day: the spirit of redemptive sacrifice. We must renew our pledge to American ideals and remember American exceptionalism and our duty to uphold freedom in the world.
For it is rivers of red blood that once ran across American soil and those same sacrifices made by Americans all over the world that allow us to take today off from work, host a barbeque, and watch the Indianapolis 500. Those rivers of red American blood are what allow some to get drunk and make a fool out of themselves in public and some to just make fools out of themselves in public – today or any other day.
For this, though some of us never forget, today we honor you.