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Freedom of speech is free, but not cheap

September 08, 2008|Bob Flynn

I had mixed emotions when I first heard that Fred Phelps and others from the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., were going to protest at funeral services for Army Cpl. William McMillan III last week.

As a member of the media, I'm a staunch supporter of the First Amendment which allows me to do my job.

That same amendment gives groups such as Phelps and his supporters the right to "freedom of speech and to peacefully assemble," and I respect that right.

But as someone who has family members who have served and died in the military, it also makes me mad that groups like his would choose to protest at any funeral, especially one of a service man who died protecting the very right that they are so freely exercising.

Freedom of speech is free, but it's not cheap.

I think that all too often we take for granted the freedoms that we enjoy and it takes incidents like this one to remind us that our freedom came at a great cost, and continues to do so even today.

I think it is a shame that people would exploit a time like a funeral service to try to get publicity for their organization and try to push their agendas, political or otherwise.

Thank goodness, people like Phelps are a very small minority.

It was an honor to witness the outpouring of support for the McMillan family Saturday, as thousands of people from all across Kentucky lined U.S. 27 and U.S. 68 waving flags hours before the funeral procession made its way to Camp Nelson National Cemetery.

The four Westboro protesters on hand were probably hoping for a confrontation and lots of publicity, but instead they were pretty much ignored by those nearby who chose instead to cheer and wave flags at passersby, successfully drowning out everything said by the group.

When the funeral procession passed by, there was total silence, with people standing silently, most with their hands over their hearts, with the only sound coming from the tires of the cars in the procession, slowly rolling by.

Members of the McMillan family wiped away tears as they made their way slowly through the people lining the highway for miles, obviously overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from the community.

I don't know when I have witnessed anything that has made me any prouder than I was Saturday, as I tried to capture the scene with my camera.

There's an old saying that "A picture is worth a thousand words," but no photograph could capture, nor words express what I witnessed on the side of the road on Saturday.

Jessamine County and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky can be proud of the way it welcomed home a fallen soldier, and the way it showed its appreciation for the sacrifice he made to make sure that we still have the right to free speech and all the other freedoms that we take for granted way too often.

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