I get to spend time with my family today because people died for me.

My husband gets a day off of work because people died for him.

My kids get to go to church because people died for them.

I get to come and go at my own free will because people died for me.

I don’t have to live in fear within my country because people died for me.

Young men, and women, for generations have shown more bravery than I ever will.

They leave all they know behind. It is faith in every sense of the word - respect for the greater good.

Eighteen year old children - CHILDREN - leave and never return.

And I get a three day weekend.

It seems absolutely selfish on my part.

I don’t have the courage to leave my family, much less my country, in order to preserve freedoms for people I don’t even know.

I don’t have a heart large enough to hold the tragedy that unfolds for people that never make it home.

My heart lurches at the possible thought of sending my own son off to war. The draft is something I can’t imagine going through, but SO many families did.

I get sick to my stomach when I think about those lost in Vietnam, the World Wars, Iraq, and Afghanistan. (Not to mention the service members that have returned home a different person, never to be the same again after war.)

I hope I can teach my children to know that all we have comes from the absolute bravest people.

People we will never get the chance to meet.

This originally appeared on Facebook.