Sometimes I run my holidays together. I cannot celebrate Labor Day without being thankful for the privilege given to me by our country’s veterans. If we didn't have a free society allowing us to work, we couldn't celebrate Labor Day. If people before me had never given their lives for this great land, we would have never had a free society and a society without freedom cannot work. Do you see why my holidays kind of run together?

Without one, the other can't occur. Without Christmas, we would never have Easter! Without Veterans Day and The Fourth of July, we would never have Labor Day!

Now I know somebody is probably going to correct me and tell me Labor Day was started before Veterans Day, but I still believe without one the other couldn't happen.

Many times when I sit down to write a story, I sometimes become overwhelmed with the knowledge that my story can sometimes turn out wrong. My stories are true reflections of my life, but sometimes my thoughts and ideas become difficult to put into words and I become concerned with the knowledge that many readers may never really feel the thoughts or ideas I am trying to bring forth in the story.

I guess it's a concern of anyone who writes and the odd thing about me is, I really don't mind sharing my thoughts with my readers—good or bad, right or wrong.

Many people have asked me "Where do you get your stories,” or "How do you come up with your material?" Well, the truth is, I don't come up with anything! All of my stories are true. I don't make these stories up and I don't stretch the truth. My stories are about me, my thoughts and my life growing up here in the southern part of the greatest state in the greatest nation on earth. I consider myself a Texan-American.

A few years ago, I was standing at the baseball park visiting my friend Rick Pritchett. While Rick and I were talking, the announcement came over the loud speaker, "Would you please stand for the National Anthem."

When the announcement was made I immediately ended all conversations and paid my respect and honor to Old Glory and to the countless millions of people who have died for this great nation.

Many people fail to respect the flag and this bothers me. I sometimes watch young people continue talking, guys who pay no attention, women who continue putting on makeup and all other goings-on during the anthem. The respect deserved to our national symbol has been lost to many.

During the beginning of the anthem on this particular day, several people stopped in their tracks, removed their hats and gave the honor deserved to our flag. I was surprised, because on this day, a greater number than usual stopped what they were doing for a moment to honor the flag.

A young girl was making her way around the corner of the concession stand, oblivious to the announcement, when all of a sudden she found herself in the midst of several adults with their hat in hand and properly placed over their heart. I knew right away she was shocked by the adult’s stance as she had not even realized the music was playing until she saw the people standing at attention. I saw her face and it was an expression of puzzlement until she finally put two-plus-two together and quickly came to an attentive stance for the remainder of the song.

A great emotional pride developed in the pit of my stomach. I was so proud of that young lady! I was proud of her reaction and the fact she didn't just continue on her way. She stopped and in a moment, I could tell a little bit of old-fashioned respect had rubbed off on this girl. Her reaction was a response I had not expected, but one I wish would be catching like a fever to other people.

Many people have seen movies that have tried to show the real side of war, but, it’s still a movie. War kills, war maims and destroys and with the sacrifice of death that war brings, we need to continue respecting the symbol of our country and honor this symbolism for generations to come.

People of my day remember Vietnam. My parents remembered World War II and Korea. The younger generation will remember The Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan or Iraq and throughout history more wars will be fought and more lives will be lost for a common cause.

Liberty, Justice and Freedom for all. This will be our cause and I hope our children will remember the purpose of the founding fathers of this country.

Old-fashioned respect is becoming a lost commodity in this country. I hope for one, this young lady had a moment’s experience that will be imbedded into her memory forever.

Clifford

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