sacrifice themselves on the basic principle that we should live free. while the cause is the same everyone has a different reason for serving. maybe they are following in their father s footsteps or felt a calling after the terrorists tore down the twin towers. for me it was a patriotic parade or a series of them in a small town. motherly day and fourth of july parades in a tiny town in southern minnesota where my parents grew up. the whole town lined up on the tree sign side of the main street waiting for the veterans to walk by and when they came older vets and younger vets, crowd clapped and saluted. the reverence that town had for the veterans made me say, wow, those men really did something special. something bigger than this town. something bigger than themselves. these men were willing to put on a uniform and face danger for me, a kid they never met. it was just a handful of veterans, from one town. but every town in america gave men like that. out of sheer patriotism
america is only as strong as its weakest link and our big cities can use some help. that s where pastor cory brooks comes in. through his selfless acts and the power of faith he s helping to build a better society for all. lawrence jones joined the pastor on his quest to save the community. few have inspired change in the community like pastor he spent nearly a year on the rooftop raising money to build a community center that will help transform this crime-ridden neighborhood and allow children to build a brighter future. i spent some time on the roof with the pastor. take a look. the violence and the crime sometimes desensitizes people but we have to make sure that people know this is not normal. we should not become desensitized. we should continually keep our efforts going to get rid of the violence, to change the neighborhood, and we have to all