Memorial day is not just a three-day weekend in America. It is a time to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.

This is Representative Jon Connor of Lewiston. Having served in the United States Air Force and having personally known men and women who heroically gave their lives to protect and defend the United States, it is my honor to bring you this Memorial Day edition of the Weekly Republican Radio Address.

Throughout this weekend, you may have the opportunity to stop by a cemetery and notice the flags decorating their gravestones. You may have the opportunity to hear a public official speak about heroic service and about the conflicts of the past. You may have the opportunity to attend or march in a parade.

This week, our Republican Radio Address seeks to put politics aside, and ask you to think about what it means to be an American – and what it would take to lay down your life for this country. It is the sacrifice that countless men and women have made on our behalf – and we must ask ourselves if we are worthy of that legacy, and what we will do with it.

There are many families across our state and our country who are Gold Star families – mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons who have lost a loved one who fought for this country. Their lives and their families will never be the same – and we have the high responsibility to make sure their sacrifice was not in vain.

So this weekend, as you enjoy a day off of work, as you visit a cemetery or participate in a commemorative activity, please take the time to read aloud the name on the gravestone. Search your heart for which of our values, our ideals, our freedoms is worth sacrificing a life.

The actions of the Patriots who came before us, and what they represent, are why we gather on this last Monday of every May. We celebrate Memorial Day so that we will never forget the sacrifices of those whom payed the ultimate price for the freedoms that we all enjoy today.

It is our responsibility to pause and reflect, and to spend each precious breath honoring the great gifts that have been bestowed upon us by our Creator through the sacrifices of the men and women that came before us.

May God bless those men and women, and their families who sacrificed along with them.  

This has been Rep. Jon Connor with the Weekly Republican Radio Address.  Thank you for supporting our efforts, listening, subscribing, sharing, and following us on Facebook and Instagram.