[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A CONGRATULATORY STATEMENT TO SANJAY SHARMA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 10, 1997

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Sanjay 
Sharma, a junior at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, IL, who has 
been named a national winner for the 1997 Voice of Democracy Program 
for the State of Illinois, and the recipient of the $2,500 Troy and 
Sandy Rothbart Memorial Scholarship Award. Sanjay, who lives in Elmwood 
Park is the son of Ms. Prabha Sharma.
  Sanjay was sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1612 in 
Chicago, IL. The program requires high school student entrants to write 
and record a 3- to 5-minute essay on an announced patriotic theme. This 
year's theme, ``Democracy--Above and Beyond,'' attracted over 109,000 
students to participate in the competition nationwide.
  The Voice of Democracy Scholarship Program was started 50 years ago 
by the National Association of Broadcasters, the Electronic Industries 
Association, and the State Association of Broadcasters, with the 
endorsement of the U.S. Office of Education. Starting in the 1958-59 
program year, the Veterans of Foreign Wars became a secondary sponsor 
in cooperation with other sponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight a part of Sanjay Sharma's 
well-written essay on democracy.

       Democracy is a form of government above and beyond all 
     other forms of government because democracy explores our 
     human essence. Democracy explores what it means to be an 
     American and what makes each and every one of us who we are 
     and who we can be. The United States of America has emerged 
     as a pillar among nations, through the 220 years of ups and 
     downs of its charismatic history. You can't help but realize 
     that there has got to be something special about this 
     democracy business. The power of democracy delves into our 
     hearts, our minds, and our inner beings, revealing to us, 
     that Destiny, Fate, and Choice are all the same breeze that 
     floats over eternity and turns the windmill of our lives.

  I am including the entire text of Sanjay Sharma's essay on democracy 
for the Record. All of us in the Seventh Congressional District of 
Illinois are rightfully proud of Sanjay Sharma.

                    ``Democracy--Above and Beyond''

                           (By Sanjay Sharma)

       Democracy is a form of government above and beyond all 
     other forms of government because democracy explores our 
     human essence. Democracy explores what it means to be an 
     American and what makes each and every one of us who we are 
     and who we can be. The United States of America has emerged 
     as a pillar among nations, through the 220 years of the ups-
     and-downs of its charismatic history. You can't help but 
     realize that there has got to be something special about this 
     democracy business. The power of democracy delves into our 
     hearts, our minds, and our inner beings, revealing to us, 
     that Destiny, Fate, and Choice are all the same breeze that 
     floats over eternity and turns the windmill of our lives.
       Inside each one of us there burns a flame of love, hope, 
     and leadership; and from that flame, there shines a light of 
     character and personality. This light, inside each of us, is 
     enveloped by a cocoon of windows that are enclosed by 
     shutters. One by one, Democracy throws up those shutters, 
     opens those windows, and allows the light within us to shine 
     forth.
       Bringing freedom, responsibility, and opportunity into our 
     lives, democracy challenges us to live up to our greatest 
     individual potential and pool our talents and ideas together 
     as a nation, in harmony and progress. And truly the glories 
     of democracy guiding our inner strengths are exhibited in the 
     events of our past and present and the prospects for our 
     future.
       Throughout history, an American legacy has taken shape from 
     the past wonders of democracy. In the early foundations of 
     the United States, the opportunities of democracy brought out 
     a light of innovation and pioneering in the millions of 
     immigrants who came from around the world and answered 
     democracy's call by helping to build America. Esterian 
     Mazzuca was a little girl when she arrived from Italy, when 
     she returned to Ellis Island seventy-four years later, she 
     came with eighty-one American descendants. In the 1960's the 
     power of the freedoms of democracy was brilliantly displayed, 
     as lights of unity and hope beamed forth from Martin Luther 
     King, Jr. And his followers in their peaceful demonstrations 
     against segregation. And in 1985, the responsibilities of 
     democracy unveiled lights of goodwill and service in forty-
     five music celebrities who gathered together to record: ``We 
     Are The World'' and donate the album's earning (almost $62 
     million) to the poverty-stricken nations of Africa. Now 
     think, for a moment, about a time when you gathered together 
     with others of the good of a common cause. The warmth and 
     belonging you felt was the warmth of a ray of inner light 
     shining from one of the opened windows inside of you--opened 
     by the power of democracy.
       The sands of time are piled in our hands, as memories are 
     being made in our present day and age. In Missoula, Montana, 
     when the children needed a merry-go-round, Chuck Kaparich 
     started to carve the horses himself, and as the contagious 
     democracy spread, soon schoolkids had collected one million 
     pennies and grown-ups assisted in the carving. After four 
     years of communal effort, Missoula has one heck of a merry-
     go-round. As a little girl performs with her class in their 
     first school pageant, singing her heart out, a tear of joy 
     falls from her parent's eye. The joyous teardrop--a beautiful 
     symbol of the efforts, choices, and qualities which 
     illuminate democracy. A grandmother and grandfather look high 
     into the blackness of the night sky as a rocket scoots 
     upwards, then disappears beyond the stars, only to burst 
     forth in a fountain of blazing reds and blues, in the true 
     fashion of a Fourth-of-July firework. As the night sky is lit 
     up in celebration, there is, for a moment, a twinkle in their 
     eyes--a symbol of the light with which democracy guides 
     America.
       As we look toward the future, we are awed by the dawn of a 
     new century--the 21st century. The younger generations of 
     Americans now must grow with democracy and kindle their own 
     inner lights of unity, hope, and leadership shining in 
     democracy's freedoms, responsibilities, and opportunities.
       In its wonderful uniqueness, democracy finds a balance 
     between absolute freedom and absolute control. The guiding 
     light of democracy shines above and beyond, showing us that 
     even freedom does not come free; freedom and opportunity 
     demand our devotion and perseverance--in turn, democracy 
     challenges us to use our talents, ideas, and skills, to carry 
     the nation to its greatest potential.

     

                          ____________________