Today we celebrate the freedom won at the dismay of our past countrymen by taking the day off work, by drinking beer for breakfast, by taking a slow stroll down the crowded streets, by relaxing next to the glow of the television.  There was a lot a blood and exploitation involved in granting us this simple day.  Lives and cultures were irreversibly changed so that we can have a day not to go into work, a day to spend on the sofa with a friend, a day to catch up on gossip with the neighbors.  This type of day is priceless in that it affords us a chance to relax and to bond, soak in the freedom like a lazy summer day.   But with the blood, hate, and imposing regulations that have been put into place, we have given it a price, a price that is paid in souls and psychology, a price that is far greater than all the monetary debt of America. It is a price that is not worth paying, a price that one could never ask, until it is too late.  I have a lot of respect for the tenacity of all soldiers, I regret that their services and their hearts were betrayed to wage a war that used freedom as propaganda, that used money and control as the real motivating factors.  Today while we sip our beers and kiss our lovers, we need to remember that we are universally equal, that war does not bring about peace, that money is overrated, that control is for the weak seeking affirmation from the masses.  The best way to respect the price paid by countless Americans is to make sure that is not repeated, that embracing the easy life does not have to come from exploiting another party.