An elderly man sits with his grandson perched on his knee. They flip through a worn photo album and he points to each photo. His eyes fall on a picture of fellow comrades, a flag billows in the distance and he thinks of all they fought for. They struggled, so that they could see the lives of their children and grandchildren improved.

A wife clings to her husband who is being deployed. She knows he is a hero because he fights for America’s freedom, but she can’t shake the anxiety as she thinks about the uncertainty of his return. Still she will proudly suspend the stars and stripes high above her home as a reminder of the freedom he fights for.

A family cries softly as a casket is walked down an aisle adorned by a flag, folded crisply to show bright red, white, and blue. The flag: a symbol of the freedom the young soldier inside fought so courageously for.

The “Star Spangled Banner” that waves from a picture, high above a house, or wrapped around a soldier’s casket, is what freedom is to me. A token of everything those in military have done when risking their lives for America's liberty.