The news these days is all about the economy. All day every day. It overwhelms us. One unfortunate side effect of this is that lots of other items that would normally receive our attention are pushed to the back pages, if they are covered at all.

One of those back page items is coverage of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's too bad.

During the past few years, regardless of where one stood on our military involvements, there has been a near unanimous outpouring of support and appreciation for our military. Those expressions of support, I fear, are occurring less frequently as so many are focused on worries about their job, their homes, and vanishing retirement funds.

But we owe those servicemen and women no less now than we did when homes were appreciating and loans were plentiful.

A few years ago my wife and I were riding on a bus with a group of people who were the beneficiaries of what we called a "political event." It was sponsored by a state legislator. We were going to a ball game. On the bus was a person who was employed by a large, well known, California company. He was, essentially, a lobbyist.

We heard him chatting with people around him about some of his experiences as a pilot stationed on an aircraft carrier. Later, after the talk had died down, we asked him about his experiences. He was a naval aviator during the Vietnam War. We thanked him for his service.

He told us that we were only the second persons who had ever said that to him. The first was a South Vietnamese woman whose parents had immigrated to the United States. She was now working in a government-related job in Sacramento. Her family had lost everything in the war. She thanked him for what he had done and what he had made possible for her.

So what does all this have to do with real estate? Everything. In up markets and down, we still enjoy the right to own private property. There is still an American dream. There is a dream of home ownership, of getting ahead, and of making a future for the next generation. We're in a rough patch right now; but the dream is still there, and still being realized in millions of lives. That dream is secure, because, all around the world, young men and women are standing on a wall. They are putting their lives on the line to defend our country and our dreams. They are there because of the dream; and it endures because they are there.

Does what these people do actually mean anything to any of us? Ask Richard Phillips, Captain of the Mersk Alabama.

I hope the young men and women who wear the uniform won't have to wait as long as our friend did before they hear a word of thanks. Please – walking down the sidewalk, waiting at an airport, shopping at the grocery store – if you have the opportunity, thank them for their service.

Published: April 23, 2009

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Bob Hunt is a director of the National Association of Realtors and is author of the recently published book, "Real Estate the Ethical Way." A graduate of Princeton with a master's degree from UCLA in philosophy, Hunt has served as a U.S. Marine, Realtor association president in South Orange County, and director of the California Association of Realtors, and is an award-winning Realtor. Contact Bob at .