[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E836-E837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   CONGRATULATIONS TO ROBERT A. BURT

                                 ______


                       HON. BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 6, 1995
  Mrs. VUCANOVICH. Mr. Speaker, I want to salute Robert A. Burt, a 
junior at Carson High School in Carson City. NV. Robert Burt was 
Nevada's winner of one of the 54 Voice of Democracy national 
scholarships awarded by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United 
States and its Ladies Auxiliary. Along with 126,000 secondary school 
students, he entered the broadcast scriptwriting contest whose theme 
was ``My Vision For America.''
  I believe his essay states an important theme and shows an optimism 
that we should all share, and I ask that it be reprinted in the Record.
                         My Vision for America

 (By 1994-95 VFW Voice of Democracy Scholarship program Nevada Winner, 
              Robert Burt, Post 3726, Carson City, Nevada)

       America. My vision of this proud and glorious lady is not a 
     dream of highways and skyscrapers, money and influence, but a 
     scene of common, hardworking, honest people. A people who 
     respect their neighbors, honor their families, and stand by 
     their country. My vision of America is of a people and a land 
     who are, as Alexandre Dumas phrased it, ``All for one, and 
     one for all.''
       My America is a place where people are not judged because 
     of money and influence but through the work of their own two 
     hands and intellect. My America is a land free of prejudice 
     and ignorance. In my vision, a poor boy from Harlem will 
     collaborate with the daughter of refugees and the son of 
     white middle class workers in a scientific or on a medical 
     breakthrough of the century. They will work not as 
     individuals, but together as Americans. It will not matter 
     what the participants' social background, or religious faith 
     is, but their work as human beings that will be regarded. It 
     will be a place where tolerance and acceptance of differences 
     is not trampled by fear and hatred.
       The America of the future is a place where we know and 
     respect one another. It is a place where neighbors greet each 
     other, a place where parents sit down with children and teach 
     them to read.
       America is not a place of ``us'' versus ``them,'' it is a 
     place of ``we.'' The vision I 
     [[Page E837]] see is one of a place where people are willing 
     to give of themselves. It is a place where the people carry 
     the spirit of Lexington and Concord, Vicksburg and the Marne, 
     Pearl Harbor and Omaha. The spirit of the men who fought at 
     these hallowed places, is the spirit we must carry. That 
     spirit is not something easily defined. It is part sacrifice, 
     part unwillingness to give up, but mostly, . . . the desire 
     to move forward through cooperation.
       It is because of this spirit that the vision I see will 
     surely come to pass. When the odds seem to be too great, we 
     unite, not as blacks, not as Christians, not as refugees, 
     but, as our forefathers did on those cold and distant 
     battlefields so long ago, we unite as Americans! We help each 
     other, we serve each other, and if necessary, we die for each 
     other.
       It will not take years for my vision to take place. It is 
     happening right now: a teacher in the inner city helping a 
     struggling student; a parent playing with a child; two 
     friends talking, regardless of their race or background. 
     America's future is not dim; it is just beginning to shine! 
     The future lies before us. It is up to us to undertake the 
     journey.
     

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