[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E654-E655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF MS. AMI KARLAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM BUNNING

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 1998

  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to take a few minutes to 
recognize an outstanding achievement by a young high school student 
from Kentucky.
  Ms. Ami Karlage of Edgewood, in my congressional district, recently 
won a 1998 Voice of Democracy broadcast scriptwriting contest for 
Kentucky as sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I have attached 
a copy of her winning essay for all to read.
  Ms. Karlage is a junior at Holmes High School and is one of only 54 
national winners. She was sponsored by VFW Post 6095 of Latonia, and I 
understand she is planning on becoming a geneticist one day. Given the 
intelligence she shows in her essay, I expect that she will eventually 
accomplish whatever she sets her mind to.
  I am proud of Ms. Karlage, and I commend my colleagues' attention to 
her essay about the importance of principle and standing up for one's 
beliefs. They are time-honored lessons we should never forget.

                     ``My Voice in our Democracy''

                            (By Ami Karlage)

     ``. . . Give me liberty or give me death!''
                                                   --Patrick Henry

     ``Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal 
     Work''.
                                                --Susan B. Anthony

     ``I am in earnest--I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--
     I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard!''
                                          --William Lloyd Garrison


[[Page E655]]


       These famous words ring throughout our country like the 
     echoes of silent bells. Voices, unused in generations, can be 
     heard today, still urging us to fight for what is good, to 
     stand up for what we believe. These voices created and 
     preserved our democracy, and they resound in our memories, a 
     symphony of noble and pure ideas. Yet, added to this 
     harmonious music of the past is a cacophony of voices 
     belonging to the present: millions of people, each shouting 
     his or her own opinions with little or no regard for anyone 
     else's thoughts. Amidst all this turmoil, how can my voice be 
     heard? How can my voice make a difference?
       In todays' democracy, many cynical, disillusioned people 
     would tell you that it's not worth shouting to be heard, it's 
     not worth standing up for what you believe. Because no one 
     listens, no one cares. I cannot believe that. Too many 
     problems in the past have been corrected because one person 
     dared to speak out against them. America won its independence 
     because one person had the courage to challenge British rule. 
     The rallying cry of ``No taxation without representation'' 
     swept a nation of diverse peoples and fractured opinions and 
     united a majority of the population to work towards a common 
     goal. Women won the right to vote because one person refused 
     to be silent. The writings and speeches of Susan B. Anthony 
     sparked reforms in women's dress, social freedoms, and 
     ultimately, constitutional rights in a time of heightened 
     civil turbulence. Slavery was abolished because one person 
     proclaimed it unjust. The accomplishments of William Lloyd 
     Garrison and other abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglas 
     and Sojourner Truth, resulted in the thirteenth amendment to 
     the Constitution, which effectively outlawed slavery. Each of 
     these controversies were important developments in our 
     nation's growth, and each of them began with a single person 
     who persisted until another person listened . . . and another 
     . . . and another, until that first person was shouting with 
     the multitude instead of against it.
       If I want my voice to be heard, I have to ignore the 
     cynics. I have to shout against the millions. I have to call 
     out incessantly. I have to refuse to be silent, in the hopes 
     that one person might take note of my cry. If I influence 
     just one other person, then my voice has been heard. If I 
     cause that person to examine or change his or her views, then 
     my voice has made a difference. My voice is not the voice of 
     the millions, nor does it have to be. My voice in democracy 
     is just that: My voice, shouting against the crowd, so that I 
     might be heard.
       And today, there are so many more ways in which my voice 
     can be heard. 150 years ago, communication was limited to the 
     written word, in the form of newspapers and pamphlets, and 
     the spoken word. As a student living in this day and age, I 
     have the technology to reach many, many more people. for 
     example, I have television. through television, I can make my 
     voice heard across the nation, simultaneously; whereas, it 
     was nearly impossible for an abolitionist or a suffragette to 
     achieve the same effect. I also have the internet, which is 
     growing daily, and radio, which reaches a large percentage of 
     the population. On a local level, I have service groups, a 
     school newspaper, clubs and other organizations, all designed 
     to give me a forum to voice my opinions and to allow my voice 
     to be heard. How much faster could Patrick Henry have 
     inflamed a nation, had he been able to use the present day 
     media?
       Each of those historic, echoing voices belonged to an 
     individual who felt the need to speak out against injustice, 
     to better the world in which he or she lived. And even as a 
     tempest begins with a single drop of rain, so did the 
     American Revolution, the Women's Suffrage Movement, and the 
     Abolitionist Movement begin with a single thought, a single 
     voice shouting among millions of others. If our country could 
     be so drastically influenced by just one person in the past, 
     there is no reason that it cannot be just as affected by my 
     voice in the present.

     

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