Fellow Pearl River Countians, this is topic we all need a sermon on that I direct not only to myself but to all of you. It is a plea to Call to Honor.

Recently, in the newspaper, we have been running a bi-weekly story with a theme, Call to Arms about our great Veterans who served long ago. These are local men and the response has been great, including the response of some older soldiers who nominate the next guy to tell his story.

Of course, Veterans are not just the elderly men drinking coffee in some small gathering somewhere, today a Veteran could be the young guy in line behind you at the Wal-Mart.

For anyone who has served, peace or war, it is a great sacrifice and tribute to be willing to die for your country, but also to be willing to leave the comforts of home, willing to give up seeing your children, your spouse, family gatherings.

I would like to encourage all of you good Pearl River County folks to put aside for a moment your busy lives and make an attempt to honor a Veteran for this holiday. Do something nice either in a grand gesture or small, just put it on the “To Do” list.

One perfect example of honoring a Veteran would be to show up for this Saturday’s Picayune Veteran’s Day Parade. It would mean alot to these men and women who have served.

Showing your support is also great for your children to see how important it is to honor these military men and as such you will be making an impression on your kids….a good impression. They will love the antique army man vehicles and they too will be excited about seeing these Veterans.

Patriotism has slackened. Possibly too many folks have become sickened by the talk of War, the images and their negative political view may prevent them from participating.

We should all agree to forget the politics and never forget to honor our Veterans….no matter your political pedigree!

Sadly, I rarely see yellow ribbons anymore and an occasional flag waving. We have settled into the norm and yet our soldiers still continue to give. Chief Thorman quoted me a staggering statistic that less than 1% protect this country. Well, that means the other 99% better be doing a bit more honoring!

I can point my finger in blame at my community and I can point it right back at me! We need a surge of appreciation for the sacrifices giving…let us never put political view over our troops. They, unlike our children, do what they are asked to do. They train, they prepare, they plan to protect our citizens because that is just what armies are suppose to do.

God Bless our troops! God Bless our Veterans! God Bless our country!