By Phil Fuehrer – State Chair

We grow up learning the value of gold stars and coveting their collection.

Having a gold star is the pinnacle of success and quality from taxi companies to entertainment to first place medals. In elementary school, a gold star placed on your paper signifies the teacher’s note that goes with it: “Good Job!!!”  That high praise motivates us to seek more.

However, not all gold stars are equal. Memorial Day is a good time to remind others of the meaning of “Gold Star” when it comes to the military. You may occasionally see the smart-looking flag banners with a gold star (or more) on them hung in a window. It is not an award for interior decorating. Begun during WWI, those gold star banners signify a family that has lost a family member in the line of military duty to our country.  It is an “honor” that families do not wish to receive. It is, though, a recognition we should revere. Or, as President Abraham Lincoln noted in his Gettysburg Address, it is an opportunity for us all “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…”

Freedoms come with a price. Some gold stars have more value than others.