WHO WANTS AN AMERICAN KISS?

For most Americans, family and friends gather together this weekend and celebrate just being together and being grateful to be together.  Across the United States, barbecues are fired up, burgers are being grilled and watermelon is being served on decks, in backyards and at the shore.  We celebrate because it's summer and we celebrate because we are free.  Baseball is a part of the American tradition too and players are paying tribute to our troops this weekend with a camo cap to remind all of us the price to be free.

"The good cause this time around is Welcome Back Veterans, an organization committed to helping veterans adjust back to their lives after returning home from service. This year's design features a camouflage pattern, licensed by the U.S. Marine Corps, all over the cap and also throughout the lettering in the jersey," noted SB Nation on Friday.

So when my five-year-old niece asked all of us gathered together for a family weekend, "who wants an American kiss?" as she passed out red, white and blue wrapped Hershey's Kisses to all of us, it got to me.  We are here at the shore, free to walk, swim, enjoy our great country because of the men and women who continue to protect us and keep us safe.  These are the bravest of the brave that say, "No one's going to hurt you; not on my watch." 

This weekend a class of more than 1,000 service men and women graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  The commencement speaker, U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Ted Carter, said very eloquently about this year's particularly notable class, "You will provide the security that allows millions upon millions of people ... to be safe, to raise their children, to dream their dreams, to live lives that are full."

As we watch and listen to baseball this weekend and see our players dressed in their "military best", let's remember why they are paying tribute to these individuals who choose to protect us today and those who protected us yesterday.  If you have the opportunity, say thank you to a service man or woman when you see him or her, much like the Yankees and the other teams on the field this weekend, do it.  You will make his or her day and your own as well.  We have freedom and after all, that's what defines us as Americans.

--Suzie Pinstripe, BYB Senior Staff Writer
BYB Hot Stove Columnist
Twitter: @suzieprof





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