By ALLEN FARLEY / Guest Columnist

As Muriel and I sat on our back porch drinking our morning coffee last Friday, she turned on a local radio talk show. All at once we were listening to a recording of President Ronald Reagan’s June 6, 1984, speech he made while standing before a group of D-Day veterans at the cliffs on Normandy beach. (It was awesome, and just what I needed.)

On a week where approximately 78 percent of Alabama’s registered voters did not vote in a primary election, it was amazing to think back to a time when 150,000 soldiers stormed a beach in France to allow American’s the privilege to continue to live in a democracy.

Think about it; almost eight out of every 10 registered Alabama voters did not vote. (Have those 78 percent forgotten what our freedom cost? Or, are they a part of our society that has the opinion that all politicians are alike?)

As I sat on the back porch with Muriel listening to President Reagan’s words I felt the tears running down my face. (I don’t apologize for showing emotion. I tear up almost every time I stand on the floor of the Alabama House and say the “Pledge of Allegiance” that has followed a heartfelt pleading prayer from someone standing at the podium.)

My tears weren’t just for the memory of the lives lost while storming a rock cliff on a beach in France seventy years ago.

My tears were mostly for the 78 percent of our Alabama neighbors who didn’t take 15 minutes out of their busy day to be a part of a privilege those soldiers died for.

Isaiah 40:31: But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God Bless America!!!

Representative Allen Farley represents District 15 in the Alabama House of Representatives, which covers portions of Shelby County. His email address is allenfarley@bellsouth.net.