[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STUDENT WINS FIRST PLACE IN VFW SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

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                           HON. FRANK MASCARA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 16, 1996

  Mr. MASCARA. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report to my colleagues 
that Jonathan Bayat, a senior from Upper St. Clair High School in my 
district, has won first place in this year's Pennsylvania VFW Voice of 
Democracy broadcast script writing contest.
  An outstanding student who has earned three letters in swimming, 
Jonathan plans to attend the American University here in Washington, 
DC, and pursue a career in international service. He also enjoys music 
and plays the guitar and trombone.
  In the eloquent script Jonathan wrote for this contest, appropriately 
titled ``Answering America's Call,'' he sends a message all of us here 
in Congress need to hear: We must work together as a community to 
overcome the problems of homelessness, poverty, and illiteracy. He 
urges us all to become involved and volunteer our time and talents to 
help those less fortunate than ourselves.
  In an effort to ensure his message is read across the country and to 
honor Jonathan's accomplishment, Mr. Speaker I ask that his script be 
included in today's Record. Thank you.

                        Answering America's Call

                          (By Jonathan Bayat)

       ``Now we must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall 
     all hang separately.'' When Benjamin Franklin spoke those 
     words to a small group of farmers, smiths, and artisans 
     assembled some 219 years ago in Philadelphia, they were as 
     true then as they are today. He told that group of men that 
     if they were going to do what they had set out to do, to tell 
     the King of England that they had had enough of his tyranny, 
     then they must all stick together. Through thick and thin, 
     through good times and bad times, they had to work together 
     or they would all be killed. Their ideals, philosophies and 
     culture would all be lost. Their unity made it capable for 
     this great nation to rise from the loosely associated and 
     disorganized thirteen colonies which preceded her.
       The ability for Americans to come together regardless of 
     race, color, or creed and work in unity for the most basic of 
     American ideals has always made this nation great. From the 
     thousands of Union troops who fought to preserve the nation 
     during the Civil War to the thousands of men who left their 
     homes in 1942 to fight for a land and a people most of them 
     had never even seen, all of them rose to the occasion and to 
     the call from their homeland, America. But the call extended 
     beyond military service it went out to every man and every 
     woman regardless of age.
       When our American troops landed at Normandy they did not 
     land alone, but rather were backed by the support of millions 
     of Americans. Millions of Americans who did everything from 
     designing the landing craft which our troops used in their 
     amphibious assault, to the fastening of bolts on the armor 
     plating of tanks which our soldiers used to break the back of 
     the Nazi war machine. When Alan Sheppard became the first 
     American to enter space he did not accomplish this task alone 
     but rather he rode on a rocket that countless Americans 
     played a role in developing. Every person had a function and 
     it was the compilation of these capacities that made this 
     monumental feat possible.
       But what now is America's call? Is it to again go overseas 
     to defend freedom worldwide or has the call, now, in recent 
     years, sounded closer to home? Has the proverbial battle for 
     the ``American Way'' moved from foreign shores to our own 
     sacred soil?
       The battle being fought now is on the streets of inner-city 
     America and in the classrooms of every public school rather 
     than at the 38th parallel or the DMZ. The battle is now 
     fought with books, knowledge, clothing, and shelter. America 
     now faces the enemies of homelessness, poverty, and 
     illiteracy. But these enemies are neither too great nor too 
     powerful for the transcendent American war machine.
       Our focus must simply change. We as Americans must go forth 
     into our own nation and wage war on poverty. Not only with 
     monetary support but also with real community involvement: 
     building houses for the poor, working in soup kitchens, 
     teaching evening classes at homeless shelters. We as 
     Americans must fight for those kids who for whatever reason, 
     be it lack of parental supervision, poor public school 
     systems or overall living environment cannot meet the basic 
     reading and writing standards to be employed. These are the 
     battles which face our nation today.
       When Thomas Jefferson remarked in an address to congress 
     that, ``Free men without Education are not free for long,'' 
     he spoke the truth. The lack of education and the poverty and 
     degradation that it breeds must be met head-on and destroyed. 
     I envision an America full of volunteers, a virtual nation of 
     volunteers, an army of civilians fighting a battle which we 
     as a country have lost in the past, an army which would put 
     an end to suffering for thousands of men, women and children, 
     and truly make this country the richest, strongest, and 
     proudest the world has ever seen.
       It is time for us, the citizens of the United States, to 
     stand up, and through unity and cooperation fight and win the 
     battle against poverty. In the immortal words of Benjamin 
     Franklin, ``United we stand, divided we fall.''

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