The Real Price of American Democracy

I was standing alone at the Korean War Veterans Memorial at the National Mall in mid-November. It was cold and after dark, so I wasn’t especially surprised that visitors were sparse as a I read the message inlaid on a wall of granite: “Freedom Is Not Free.” My Grandpa had served in the Korean War, so I made a special effort to see it. He was a funny, warm person, and it was hard to immediately imagine him in a war. He only ever told me about one experience from Korea— a particularly tense moment behind enemy lines.