Speakin up on the roadside

Kudos to the city of Decatur for renewing my faith in people. Not that it had been lost completely, but it was just somehow buried in the mountain of negative media reports of a dismal economy, worst approval ratings, unhappy Americans, etc.
We had the honor of traveling to Decatur to pay tribute to a young man who was in our youth ministry for several years. SSGT Josh Rath was killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. He was serving his country & protecting my freedom. He was an incredible young man with a wonderful family. I was amazed at the strength of his mother, father & siblings.
When we arrived at the funeral home I immediately began to cry. Just pulling into the parking lot you could witness the display of American flags being held by men who wore the stories of years of service and patriotism on their faces. They held those flags outside in the freezing temperatures the entire time Josh was there. Inside, leading into the viewing room were more flags being held by JROTC members from Josh's high school. The hundereds & hundereds that had come to pay honor & support the family for the weekend was unsermountable.
The funeral service showed the Army & church working together to pay honor to such a great young man. A 2 star General of the Army & several other high dignitaries were there to present medals & awards to Josh's family. They talked of how rare it was for someone to move up the ranks in the Army for only the 4-1/2 years that he served. Several members from his unit were there to pay honor. One even spoke of how Josh saved his life in 2006. You could still see the shrapnel that was embedded in his face. His brothers, sisters & fianacee shared stories of what a great brother, hero & friend he was.
As we exited the church & got into our cars to begin the procession to the graveside, nothing could have prepared me.
The weather was freezing. The wind was blowing so hard it would take your breath away.
But all along the road for 15 miles was common men, women & even children braving the elements to stand on the roadside to hold a flag or sign or salute. I even saw one woman looking at every car & mouthing the words, "thank you". The firetruck on the overpass had the ladder fully extended with the American flag blowing on the end. The firemen dressed in their full uniform and stood at attention for the thousands to pass. A children's daycare, the UPS man, the ChickFilA cow, the little boy that held the sign, "Josh is a Hero", hundreds & hundreds of people that some only could knod their head as you passed as a sign of thanks.
I cried the entire trip. I had a time to reflect where our country is & where it has been. That the people, if given the chance to speak will show the backbone of America. I was previleged to share with my son the impact and sacrafice that each one of those Americans were doing by standing on the roadside to show what they could- support.
Thank you for speaking up along a roadside where you didn't have to say anything at all.

I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me...