(Picture credit: Alan Glassman; FCA students talking with Kelly Ayotte [now, Senator-elect from NH])
Here is the seventh of the VFW’s Voice of Democracy project papers that are being submitted by students of Fellowship Christian Academy – this is Catherine’s (previous submissions: Peter, Maggie, Laura, Kathryn, Grace & Tim):
Ronald Reagan once said that “each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You [the future generations of America] will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known.” Is this not true? Are the opportunities that surround my generation of Americans anything less than gifts bestowed upon us from those brave enough to make a difference throughout our history? If it were not for their absolute dedication to this country, where would we be today, in 2010? The answer to this question is so painfully obvious, yet so rarely acknowledged. We would be nowhere had it not been for the trailblazers of America. Those who took life-changing chances, believing in their hearts that they could and would impact the future; people such as soldiers, who stormed Iwo Jima, who braved the beach of Normandy on D-day, who conquered once and for all tyranny at Yorktown… people just like you and me.
We, the next generation of America, have a choice to make. A choice to stand up and take advantage of the countless opportunities that are out there waiting to be discovered, waiting for us to take hold of them and move forward. Why should we allow the innumerable sacrifices made on our behalf go to waste? We cannot let them slip through our fingers. To do so would be nothing less than to waste the blood and tears of so many Americans. We must remember that, as Henri Amiel once said, “Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.”
So what? …
…What are we supposed to do with these opportunities? We’re just the youth, right? Surely we can’t impact an unforeseen future. And to that, I must ask you all a question. Was not George Washington, who is debatably the most famous man in American History, in his early twenties when he became a major in the army, a choice that would undoubtedly change not only his lives but our lives today? Had he not willingly sacrificed his security and youth for the greater good of his country, putting himself moments away from death numerous times, only God knows what path our country would have been forced to take. When he was but eleven years old his father died. His elder brothers being married and afar, George became head of the household. That’s a lot of responsibility for a boy his age. But perhaps such responsibility so early was the vital factor to his astounding accomplishments later in life. If he could handle such difficult matters when he was yet so young, then why not also when he was a man?
But George Washington is certainly not the only young person to give his life so freely for this nation. What about Pat Tillman, who gave up the glamorous life of a young professional football star to fight for his country in the War on Terror? It’s because of his life and the lives of so many other young and older people alike that my generation has abundant freedom, that my generation has the right to publically protest anything we don’t agree with, that my generation has religious freedom and the ability to worship when and where we want to, that my generation must be given a fair trial before we’re even considered guilty. Why are we even given these rights, or rather, privileges? The answer is simple. It is because those before us chose to stand up for what they believed in and weren’t afraid of adversity.
So what gives my generation the right to sit back and watch what others before us have given their lives for become nothing but a memory? We have the responsibility, just as every generation before us and every one after us, to fight for the freedoms of future Americans. For if we fall behind in this duty, who’s to say that there will even be future Americans? My generation has the ability to change our nation, and I believe we will. And all thanks is due to those on which whose shoulders we are standing: every generation before us.
