Tears and Motorcycles

I am not often moved to tears and I do not have a good feeling for motorcycles. However, yesterday we had an event on Main Street that moved me to tears. A
young man from our county was killed in Afghanistan recently and he was to be buried at Ft Sill yesterday.
They had asked in advance for a patriot honor guard for him and that the funeral cortege would be coming down Main St at noon on the way to the funeral. When it arrived, the street was lightly lined with folks holding Amer flags, as a sizable cavalcade of motorcycles and some cars advanced bearing sashes that read Patriot Honor Guard. That was a solemn moment and when the family cars drove by, you could see the emotion and sense of surprise on their faces that people had turned out to honor this young man. It was not a large crowd..a few people here and there..but in our block, there were enough to stand on the center line and make a row that ran most of the block.
We had just finished taking down our Fourth of July window so we had a lot of flags still laying on the counter. People saw them and tried to buy them, but we just gave them away and there were lots of flags on the street. Then folks brought them back and said thank you. We always keep lots of flags to give or loan for special events down town, but this day was a surprise to me as I had not read the paper the night before. I am so glad we had them available.
I just stood there and cried. I don't usually do that, but on that particular day, it overwhelmed me that a family, wife and children, parents and cousins...all...are going to be without this young man and the world he loved will be deprived of his presence. All for the sake of a country he didn't even know, a war he didn't want, people who didn't like him, trouble he didn't ask for. But most all soldiers are like that. They never want that kind of horror. I appreciate them and honor their service,
I know there will never be a day when we don't need armies and young men get shot and die. But wouldn't it be wonderful? Until then, say thanks to a soldier you know.
So, thank you, Jason Kramer. God hold you in his hands and keep you safe.