[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 65 (Thursday, May 6, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E895-E896]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MY SERVICE TO AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 6, 1999

  Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, each year the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars (VFW) and the VFW Ladies Auxiliary conducts the ``Voice of 
Democracy'' broadcast script writing contest. This years contest theme 
was ``My Service to America''. It is my pleasure to announce today that 
Bria Knorr, from Moorhead, Minnesota, is one of fifty-four national 
scholarship winners. Ms. Knorr reminds us that the spirit of service to 
our country remains strong among our nation's youth, and that 
individuals can make a difference. At this point, I'd like to enter Ms. 
Knorr's essay into the Congressional Record.

                         My Service to America

                            (By Bria Knorr)

       3,536,341 square miles, 2,807 miles from sea to shining 
     sea, and populated by 270 million people. It's America and 
     it's big. So large, in fact, that many people find it 
     incomprehensible to think they could serve a country of such 
     vast dimensions. It causes a person to wonder whether or not 
     they can make a difference in a community of so many. 
     However, if we page backwards through the history of our 
     country, we find countless examples of single individuals 
     changing America forever through their dedicated service.
       One such man, traveling across the country as a doctor for 
     Native Americans and settlers moving west was John Chapman. 
     He is more commonly associated with the trail of apple trees 
     he left where ever he went. To this day we hear of slightly 
     legendized tales of the heroic self-sacrificial acts of a man 
     committed to helping settle this great nation. Not only was 
     he serving America in the eighteenth century, but also the 
     many generations who would come to love his apple trees and 
     his legends.
       Another guide, traveling south and north rather than east 
     and west, embodied the idea of advocating a principle through 
     the liberation of peoples. Under the cover of darkness 
     Harriet Tubman repeatedly risked her life to bring slaves out 
     of servitude and into freedom. Her development of the 
     underground railroad improved the lives of hundreds of 
     runaway slaves.
       The powerful motivator and leader, Dr. Martin Luther King 
     Junior, chose to serve his country by speaking out against 
     the hypocritical idea that all men were created equal but 
     should not be treated that way. Through peaceful protest, 
     this passionate man drew the attention of the country to the 
     injustice of segregation. His service did not end when his 
     life did, but goes on through the idea of equality he brought 
     to the United States.
       Single individuals can and have made a difference 
     throughout the course of our history. But these greats are 
     few and far between. Most of us never have the opportunity to 
     render our services on such a scale. Are we worthless to our 
     country? How can we serve this nation, this body of people?
       I'd been regulating pumps for six hours and now it was in 
     the dead of night; the purring of the pumps and the swish of 
     water being mopped down the drain droned on monotonously as 
     it had all night. When my family and I had gotten here, this 
     couple had been manning their pumps `round the clock for four 
     days just to keep the rising flood waters from filling their 
     basement. Their cistern would fill and need to be pumped out 
     every fifteen minutes and water was running into the room 
     through cracks in the cement floor. I was tired and 
     uncomfortable and the air was cold. One more hour and my 
     shift would be over. My thoughts drifted upstairs to the 
     exhausted couple who were getting the first real sleep 
     tonight that they'd had in days. I thought that tonight I 
     might have been home in my warm bed. Instead, I was in a 
     clammy basement, fighting off sleep to flip a switch every 
     fifteen minutes and mop up water that would cover the floor 
     just as soon as you finished pushing the last batch down the 
     drain. I thought of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, of Harriet 
     Tubman, of John Chapman. I wasn't aiding anyone to freedom, I 
     wasn't risking my life for an ideal, I wasn't improving the 
     United States on a grand scale. But maybe this was grand for 
     these people whose home I was protecting. I was doing 
     something grand for some small part of the country. Perhaps 
     that is what defines my service to America. For what is one 
     foot in the 5,280 that make up a mile? Except that it 
     wouldn't be a mile without it . . .''


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