For hundreds of years the light in the distance meant hope.  The flickering in the distance of the light high atop the lighthouse tells of nearing land in a heavy fog, the dim light of a front porch says come inside to the warmth of home, and let us not forget the lantern of Paul Revere riding through the streets to warn the British were coming.  There was a time long ago that our forefathers fought to provide us with freedom, then came other wars fought to preserve those freedoms.  Today we fight to protect that freedom.