Don was a 20 year old Soldier on duty at the Berlin Wall in 1962 prior to it really being the wall we came to know it as. He described it as a some strands of barbed wire in the area he was at. He told me the story of one winter it was snowing buckets over 10 inches on the ground and there on his nightwatch was a woman who was trying to escape Soviet rule trapped in the barbed wire. He volunteered to go and cut her out, but his superiors wouldn't let him. He was forced to watch as the lady eventually froze to death. After nights on watch for two weeks he explained that it would be a shame for her body to remain until spring and to have not gotten to where she was wanting to go. He snuck out and cut her out and dragged her body into West Berlin.

With less than thirty days left in his tour, he was rear-ended and broke his neck in a deuce and a half. He has been asked repeatedly, and I asked him as well, if he had to do it all over would he do things differently. That is when he told me the story of the woman at the wall. He said that if they needed him to fight today, he would gladly go. Why? Because he understood what that woman understood. That there is an embrace worth reaching out for, worth fighting for, worth risking everything for. Freedom's embrace is worth all those things and more. Too bad that our society takes that embrace for granted. Fortunately, there are people like Don who is the people greeter and works with me at Wal-Mart. Look around, even if you don't respect Freedom's Embrace, chances are there are great Americans around every corner who do.