You've probably heard that Billy Ray Cirus song on the radio a lot of the weekend if you've been listening to country music. I've been out spending my weekend camping in Southern Schoharie County, and I find myself reflecting upon what has happened in Iraq over the past three years.

When we think about memorial day, we must realize that death is the reality of war. These people where real Americans who believed in our country, and wanted to do the right thing to make our world a better place. These people saw the beauty of our country and loved our freedom and wanted to protect it for the future. These people died with the most noble of intentions and we must not forget all the sacrifices of the men and women on our battle fields.

Still we have to ask ourselves, why did so many people have to die in all our past wars. Couldn't they have lived and we still have our freedom? Aren't there better ways to allocate our resources. Criticizing the policies of our government is part of life in a democracy, but at the same time we must also work to ensure the our solders get the resources they need both over in Iraq and Afghanistan, and back home in our country.

War is never an easy thing. I so proudly stood with my cowboy hat over my heart as the Vetrans marched by in the Middleberg parade yesterday. I just wish so many people did not have to make the ultimate sacrifice. We are a great country, but there is so much work to do back here at home, and I wish that was our priority in building a great society.