Not withstanding the debt we owe to Christ for his unspeakable gift, we owe all those who have sacrificed before us.  These paved the way.  They left a trail, a pattern, a trellis whereupon we might grow.  Often we only come to understand the richness bestowed upon us when it is gone.  We must stand strong and in their example sacrifice.  We owe it to Christ and those who left the tracks before us to leave our own foot prints lest the path become obscured and we by erring example lead others astray.  

Php 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.