Sullivan Ballou so loved his country that he put it above everything, even his own life–as so many of our brave fighting men and women throughout our long and tumultuous history have done, making the ultimate sacrifice, to that this nation shall not perish from the earth.

Perhaps, when we squabble, politically, over petty, trivial things, we should be reminded of the soldiers like Ballou, and the thousands of others that have paid so dearly so that we can freely engage in such debate–and therefore, rather than use our precious, hard-won freedoms to tear one another down with petty bickering, rather we should try to build up and better our nation in tribute to these selfless men and women.