Like the air we breathe, most Americans assume our extraordinary freedoms will always be in abundant supply. It's only when those freedoms are threatened or when we are otherwise enlightened to the fact that many in our world live and die never knowing the blessings of liberty, that our appreciation for it grows. In this collection of short essays, seven Americans write about events in their lives that resulted in a deeper appreciation of freedom.

(AgapePress) - The tears burned. The ache in my heart was unexpected. The lump in my throat was unmoving. I saw the concern on the faces of my two young daughters, Michelle and Deborah, as they asked my wife, Donna, "What is wrong with Dad?"

We were in Washington, DC, for a family vacation in the 1980s. Until that moment, Dad had been the dutiful tour guide/teacher for his contribution to the next generation.

I had served voluntarily in Vietnam. My service, like that of others, had not been appreciated by many in our country. It was the war that we wished we could ignore. We were told that the country needed to move on.

But there it was -- the reminder -- The Wall. I had not even wanted to go there, but we were at the Lincoln Memorial and as Donna said, "It's right here!"

I thought it was a dumb memorial, just a polished stone wall with names on it -- 58,000 names! But some of them were my friends. By God's grace my name was not inscribed on the wall.

A mother with her teenage children wept as they placed a wreath. An old man, hat in hand, stood with his tearful wife, their eyes fixed on a single name. It was then that I realized how perfect the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was as a monument.

As bad as the experience of Vietnam was, I believed we were there for a noble purpose. I remembered the dark cloud of Communism that was extinguishing the flames of freedom around the world. I remembered that we were there to shore up the fence between liberty and authoritarianism.

An emotional wellspring was unleashed as I finally understood. Freedom is precious, but it is not free. Every name on the wall was a memorial to a sacrifice made in the name of freedom. And freedom is worth defending.