Brad Pitt, the actor, is not usually the person to use a quote from, ha, but in the movie “Fury” he made that quote and it was reported that Brad adlibbed and said this quote off script. Once they thought about the quote, they left it in the movie because it was a very true statement.

The statement was “Ideals are peaceful but history is violent.”

If you just take a walk through history you will know that this is true. If you look at the past conflicts and wars such as Vietnam, Koran war, and of course Adolf Hitler and Germany during WWII, Japan during WWII, WWI ,Civil War and all the way back to the Revolutionary war, they are started with a great and peaceful ideology that turned in a bloody war.

Ideology is usually said when the person saying it is safe, warm and secure and it is usually their ideology that they want to impose on the other party.

As I went about my life this past weekend I was reminded of what a price our fathers and grandfathers and their fathers before them paid so we could be safe and live our lives as we decide. Yesterday in Sunday school there was a question if we had ever been persecuted for our faith or not. The answer is that no one in that room has ever been persecuted. You may have had your feelings hurt over faith but nothing that would approach persecution. I am reminded of Hitler who wanted to impose his socialist ideology on all the countries around Germany including the Jewish people. That was persecution. What we have experienced is maybe a little shunning from other people, hurt feelings now and then and the occasional bruised ego.

You think of all the past wars and where they were fought and what the conditions were and the men and women waking up every day not knowing if they would be alive that night. Those soldiers watched their friends die around them and fought with all their hearts to simply stay alive and come home to their families and live in freedom.

The image of being a parent taking your son or your daughter to report for active duty is an image that has played out millions of times for fathers and mothers across America. Thank God I never had to take my daughters to report for duty. I am simply thankful for our lives

My point is the next time you have an easy weekend or a day that is maybe a little stressful, I believe we should all have a reality check on what price was paid so we can go about our lives in freedom. When you see a soldier in uniform, go up to him or her and thank them.

Accross history there has been many people who thought they were leaders and who dispensed their form of ideology. What you will always note from history is that the person wants to be in charge of the ideological setting. None of those people want to be the ones that are controlled by someone else. In every situation they wanted to be in charge.

Sometimes being thankful starts with an inventory of our lives, our families, our safety and where we live. KT