In this bipartisan time, we rarely have opportunities to truly come together.

There’s Christmas, but apparently there’s a war raging around it. We all watch the Super Bowl, but only half are satisfied with the outcome. Thanks to the never-ending political calendar, this country finds itself divided on a daily basis.

Memorial Day is an opportunity to step back from this division — to unite in remembrance and respect for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country. It is also an opportunity to remember why they gave that sacrifice. What about this country and its principles makes it worth fighting for?

No one gives their life for the Democratic or Republican party, or for their favorite sports team, or for a single law or politician. Those who join the military defend all Americans — our lives, our land, our culture and our traditions.

It can be easy to forget, so far from the battlefield, what that sacrifice means. That there are nearly 7,000 young men and women who have been killed in combat since 2001. And it was for their hometown as well as ours, for their family and yours.

We understand the impulse to spend the long weekend at the barbecue, car sale, camping or waiting in endless TSA checkpoints at the airport. And we hope you did enjoy the day off work.

But we also hope you took a few minutes to look out at your cemetery, over to your neighbors, to the less fortunate, at the incredibly blessed, onto our bountiful lands.

They are what we all have in common.