VFW POST 9143
VOICE OF DEMOCRACY ESSAY CONTEST
ASHLEY BUTMAN, FIRST PLACE WINNER FORSYTH CHRISTIAN HOME SCHOOLERS, CUMMING, GA

   The year is 2003. At an airport in Arizona, a man who has faced hardship and weathered time gazes out a window". Robert, a passenger ready to board an airplane, notices the old man and asks if he can sit beside him. The old man's weary voice mutters: "Did you stand when she walked by?". Robert is confused. What do these words mean? As Robert boards the plane, he catches a glimpse of a scene 300-yards away. A procession of 6 men carry a flag draped coffin to a waiting hearse. Suddenly realizing the meaning of the old man's words, Robert's eyes fill with tears and he runs back to the old gentleman. "I know her name now sir, and I stood when she walked by." The old man faintly replies, "Thank you, my greatest wish these days is to stand again for Old Glory, but I can't. I gave my legs in '43 and my oldest son in,'67 to that lady so she could keep walking. It hurts that no one cares when the flag walks by."   Today, our nation is populated by people, but not all are patriots. Becoming lazy and taking our freedom for granted, our nation may soon lose its freedoms. Unless we are willing to accept the call to action-that call is to become a patriot and that call is freedom's challenge. To be a patriot, we must be informed, involved, and indivisible.
   First, patriots must be informed. Walter Bums, renowned professor at Georgetown University states: "Patriots have to be cultivated, because no one is born loving his country; such love is not natural, but has to be taught." Everyday, people migrate to our nation from around the world. But do they come to the United States ready to be a patriot? Willing to be devoted and willing to put their life on the line to preserve the greatness of this nation? Indeed, such people are rare. So let's teach every American to treasure the stories of the former patriots who went before us. Let's make future patriots who are informed on national issues such as imminent domain, Medicare, immigration law, and domestic oil drilling. Freedom's challenge is making informed citizens.  So be informed, then get involved!   
   Abraham Lincoln called this nation an inestimable jewel that's worth fighting for. It's not enough for my generation to just recognize the principals of our-nation. We must protect them! We must even be willing to give up our lives on the battlefield for democracy Is it enough to spend just one day calling up your congressmen or remembering our Veterans only on Memorial Day? No! Patriotism, as Adlai Stevenson said, "is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Whether in politics, education, economics, or even the front lines, every citizen must become an involved patriot. That's freedom's challenge.
   Informed, involved, and finally indivisible. It's time to unite and not be separated by the clash of opinions and beliefs. Our soldiers are fighting throughout the world for our freedom. And we face a new enemy now. Terrorists such as Ayman Al-Zawahir who says: "We have the right to kill four million Americans-two million of them children- and to wound and cripple hundreds of thousands." Terrorists do not discriminate between black, white, rich or poor, young and old. Their key to victory is the separation of our people. Our key to victory is uniting to defend our freedoms. This is freedom's challenge.
   My generation must become like the patriots of old. Whether it was the delegates who assembled in Independence Hall in 1776, the firefighters who rushed into the World Trade towers the moment before it crumbled, the old man at the airport who wished he could stand for "Old Glory", or the heroes who fought at Normandy, Iwo Jima, the Coral Sea, and Vietnam, it's up to you and me to keep this nation a beacon of democracy and a nation of patriots who are informed, involved, and indivisible.