As you go about your picnics, parties, socials and reunions, please remember to take some time to remember the purpose of Memorial Day. Please take just a few moments to turn your focus away from all the whirling, swirling activities of life, take a deep breath and utter a word of thanks. Many are the ranks of brave souls who have given their lives for us. Think of them, remember them, give them thanks and be rightly humbled.

Thanks to all the many proud armed forces personnel who have set aside their own worthy lives to serve the likes of me. Thanks to the spouses, sons and daughters of our guardians, you have sacrificed everything to the prospects of uncertainty so that we may be safe. Thanks to the military chains of command which faithfully execute their tasks in an effort to successfully complete their mission and bring our warriors home safely. Thanks to our Commander in Chief, if for no other reason than because his is a difficult job. Thanks to each of you who through your tax funding help maintain the single most effective fighting force in the world.

Please just take one solitary moment to forget all the political arguments and half truths. Forget who's right or who's wrong. Forget who started it or when it should end. Please, just remember at the end of your day or somewhere in it that this one single thing is true: Someone out there is willing to die for you.

Say thanks.

In a move that is down-right American, Sears stores (NYSE: SHLD) are going the extra mile for our men and women in the armed forces. It was reported to me that not only is Sears gladly meeting the legal requirements to hold open and available the jobs temporarily vacated by individuals who are called into active military service but they are proud to go above and beyond the call of duty. Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salary and maintaining all benefits including medical insurance and bonus programs for a period of up to two years for their reservist employees who are called into service. I myself will happily drive ten miles beyond a Wal-Mart store (NYSE: WMT) and joyfully risk paying slightly higher prices to deal with a company that treats my soldiers like that.