People who know me well know I have my share of quirks. I can’t leave the house without checking the door twice to see if it’s locked. I can’t go to bed most nights without making sure the stove is off. My brother and sister can attest to the neatness phase I went through as a kid.
My latest quirk sprung up during my morning walks through Swampscott when I found myself placing my right hand over my heart and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as I passed the small flags clustered around memorials for Jared Raymond and Jennifer Harris.
I’m not sure why I started my morning mid-stride salute. But rain or shine, whether I’m feeling good or bad, content or worried, I take a few seconds to contemplate why two people endowed with youth’s promise took the Pledge of Allegiance to heart and laid their lives on the altar of freedom.
Jared J. Raymond was 20 years old when he was killed in Iraq in 2006. Jennifer J. Harris was 28 when she died there in 2007.
My dad, my uncle and my cousin who shares my given name and birthday were and are veterans. That said, I admit to not fully understanding the sense of sacrifice, the selflessness and the courage that motivates someone to serve our country wearing a uniform.
Veterans have told me that personal safety and risk are concerns canceled out by training and an unshakable belief that the person fighting next to you has your back.
I take them at their word because I have no point of reference that allows me to understand in my gut what they are talking about. What I do understand is that there are thousands of people from every walk of life in this country who are willing to protect the rest of us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
I have friends who have a son in the Navy and another son who served two tours of duty overseas, including one in a combat theater. Like Jared Raymond and Jennifer Harris, he accepted the prospect of putting his life on the line in order to protect our country. He is a decorated veteran and, whenever I get the chance, I thank him for keeping our country safe.
What would we do without these people? How would our country have survived without veterans who faced the prospect of dying at a young age in service to our country?
The pandemic and the economic misery and social isolation that accompanies it seems to dominate the news and conversation and it has changed my life. I think I take a few seconds in the morning to salute Jared Raymond and Jennifer Harris because it is an acknowledgement that their sacrifice is greater than any I will endure during our current struggles.
I whisper the Pledge of Allegiance as I walk past their memorials understanding that they lived the words enshrined in the pledge and died with the knowledge that freedom is not free.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].