I found the spirit of the Fourth of July
every day in my heart during five weeks of traveling through a dozen countries
in Europe. I didn't need fireworks, barbecue or flag-draped, canned speeches; I
just needed to reflect on the past. I needed to listen to the victims and unsung
heroes who fought and died to have the freedoms and way of life that make our
country so special.
Walk down the streets of cities still stained by the dark past of communist
rule, and you can't help but appreciate how special our democracy is. The voices
of Hungarian freedom fighters will never die out. The spirits of the Londoners
and Poles who endured the dark days of relentless Nazi attacks walk the night
streets.
I've seen what remains of the Berlin Wall and viewed the pictures of those who
risked their lives to cross over simply to find the freedoms we take for
granted. The screams of those shot by the communists for wanting to be free echo
loudly on the streets around Checkpoint Charlie and throughout Europe.
I found myself speechless in the middle of Auschwitz, just trying to imagine the
fear and pain of those betrayed and put to death by their government. Rooms full
of prosthetic legs, suitcases and baby clothes whispered warnings that it can
happen again.
Listening to the past made my heart hurt as I swelled with pride over what would
have been if it hadn't been for the American spirit of the Fourth of July.
Outside the concentration camp walls, and in the postcard-famous cities of
Europe, I could feel the can-do American spirit that made it all possible. I
heard the boots marching, the accents of New Jersey, Texas and Alabama, the
unsung American heroes who crossed an ocean by the hundreds of thousands to
defeat the Nazis and help liberate Europe.
Standing at what seemed like endless rows of soldiers' gravesites, I could hear
departed Americans talking about their unfinished lives, soldiers who reported
to duty because it was their duty, now buried in foreign places where their
sacrifice is no longer appreciated.
The spirit of the Fourth of July will always live on in my heart. Today I urge
you to turn off the negative media and ruinous political debate, and remember
the soldiers who have given their lives for our freedom. Instead of taking sides
on how and when this war in Iraq should end, salute those men and women in
uniform still fighting overseas and risking their lives in two thankless wars.
And when the night of celebration is about to end, close your eyes and see if
you, too, can't feel the spirit and hear the voices of those who have given you
this wonderful country called America. The vision of our Founding Fathers
enshrined in our Constitution. The stories told in blood and tears in every
stripe, in every star of our flag. Think of how blessed you are to live in such
a great country as the United States of America.
Tara Tedrow is a junior at Wake
Forest University, a Presidential Scholar for Debate and Captain of the Mock
Trial Team.
