I remember watching a golf tournament and the commentator stated that the golfer who holed a putt was "brave." Brave? He holed a putt, for God's sake. Did he hole it with an alligator bearing down on him? Hardly. He putted a ball into a hole. If he missed, nothing particularly bad might happen. Instead of earning $400,000 he might have earned $327,000, but there was another tournament next week, and 30 more after that, and a lifetime of golf after that. This man wasn't brave and, like every other athlete, he was no hero.

Military personnel are heroes. How many men and boys sacrificed their lives on bloody beaches and in godforsaken hellholes fighting for your liberty? They would not return to their wives and children, never again see their parents, siblings and friends. They gave their lives for other people, the vast majority of whom they did not know and who did not know them.

Thousands have returned home with permanent injuries, both physical and mental, and they struggle every day trying to put the pieces back together. We applaud athletes and entertainers, all of whom are concerned basically with promoting themselves and making money, and we stare in awe at investment bankers who would slit the throats of the unsuspecting victims if it put another dollar in their accounts. We praise politicians who are power hungry and driven by special interests, men and women who will do anything to get elected.

But it's the military man and woman, people who leave their homes, oftentimes for years, people who say god bye to children not knowing if they will ever return, people who live day in and day out with the specter of violence hanging over them like a shroud, knowing that every minute of every day, somebody wants to kill them. They aren't motivated by fame, power or money, they are driven by an instinctual need to protect, to shield the vulnerable, to raise the flag of freedom. These are the heroes, the finest among us, and they give expression to the dignity of man.