[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 64 (Thursday, May 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FREEDOM'S OBLIGATION

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                         HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 30, 2003

  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to submit the words of John 
Marc Sianghio, Jr., a young man from Oswego, Illinois, to the 
Congressional Record. John was recently named a winner in the Veterans 
of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy scriptwriting contest for 2003.
  The Veterans of Foreign Wars holds a Voice of Democracy competition 
each year in order to give high school students an opportunity to 
express their patriotism. This year, an overwhelming 80,000 students 
across the country participated in the contest. John's essay reflects 
upon the responsibilities inherent to life in a free nation--freedom's 
obligation.
  I commend the Veterans of Foreign Wars for their continued commitment 
to fostering a sense of patriotism and responsibility in the youth of 
our great nation. And I congratulate John on his success and wish him 
the best of luck in his future endeavors.
     2002-2003 VFW Voice of Democracy Scholarship Contest


                        ``Freedom's Obligation''

              (Illinois Winner.--John Marc Sianghio, Jr.)

       Lady Liberty stands vigil over a city, and a nation that 
     does not sleep. In her torch shines perpetual daylight, 
     fueled by the great virtue that is tireless action. 
     ``Action'' she demands. Even her silence cries out to the 
     world, ``Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses 
     yearning to breathe free.''
       Though the words say ``give me'' the sub-text shouts 
     ``come!'' It is not an invitation, it is a command: not a 
     gift, a demand. The imprisoned lightning in her torch 
     thunders with a message understood in every language, that 
     the Republic over which she stands with its liberties and 
     justices, is not for all. It stands only for all those with 
     the boldness to take it, for all those willing to pay its 
     price. This precious freedom is open only to those who can 
     meet its obligation.
       That obligation can only be action, for America is a 
     republic born of a hard and painful labor, a republic that 
     earned its freedom at the point of a gun, and that has held 
     its freedom with the same. America is a nation that did not 
     emerge as the random offspring of intercoursing tribes. It 
     emerged by the active will of its people. Nor was its 
     revolution won in the minds of inert philosophers, rather in 
     the hearts of the masses; hearts that not only had passive 
     sentiment, but that physically pumped charged blood into live 
     limbs, stirring them to action: Hearts that bled freely so 
     that the flag of independence might be striped in scarlet . . 
     . But that once vibrant crimson has faded through uncounted 
     years of stagnancy.
       Stagnancy is the greatest treason. We justify it in this 
     age by referring to it by an alias. Like the devil it is, it 
     has many names. It is called caution, debate, delay, 
     filibuster, complaint, apathy, and inaction. If it is not 
     action . . . it is treason.
       Treason was not a word in my vocabulary when I immigrated 
     to this country. I was two at the time. Freedom when I first 
     set foot on American soil meant that I would be out of the 
     coach class seat that held me for twenty two hours, that I 
     could stretch my legs on solid ground. Was that true freedom? 
     Of course not. I had to learn freedom. I had to earn freedom.
       From the moment I was first old enough to realize the 
     opportunities and liberties gifted to me by American Freedom, 
     the enormity of Freedom's obligation was already creeping 
     onto my shoulders. As I have grown older and learned more and 
     more about my rights, the responsibilities wrapped inside 
     these rights also began to emerge.
       As immigrants to this country, there was a long difficult 
     process which my family and I had to undertake to stay in 
     this country. This process required much sacrifice by each 
     individual involved. However, we wanted to work to earn the 
     freedoms we enjoyed. Had we not done it, we would have 
     debased our honor and lowered ourselves to the state of 
     common thieves. The sacrifices I have made earned me my 
     freedom. Your story, your struggles, your road to earning 
     freedom is probably much different. However, our obligations 
     to freedom are in essence the same.
       So what is the spirit of our obligation? What is the common 
     labor that must be undertaken to be worthy of Lady Liberty's 
     embrace? It is simply love. Patriotic love.
       I speak of a patriot's love, not as the lust of a fool who 
     thinks he serves his country by ignoring her laws and making 
     his own rules because he believes they are better. I speak of 
     true love, like that in marriage. Freedom's obligation is the 
     marriage of our minds and our souls. It is a dreamer's desire 
     for the ideal, guided by the rational hands of what is real. 
     Our obligation is to strive for that ideal. Realistically, we 
     know that true freedom can only come when every human being 
     is rid of their every chain, chains of poverty, chains of 
     addiction, and chains of hatred. Still we are obligated as 
     individuals to strive for the ideal of freedom. The ideal 
     that every person is created equal because every person 
     creates himself equal. It starts with one. It starts with me, 
     and it starts with you. If we do not meet our obligations, 
     this ideal can never be reached. If we do not meet our 
     obligations, we cheapen freedom, and we cheapen ourselves.
       For it is freedom's obligation, the great price at which 
     freedom comes, that gives it its value. That is why we must 
     act, so freedom may retain its value, and that we as 
     individuals may maintain our integrity and human worth as 
     well. For the obligation of freedom is Lady Liberty's call to 
     the individual who longs to be free. Who, like a newborn 
     child that struggles for its first life sustaining breath, 
     expands his lungs against the weight of apathy so that he may 
     breathe free.

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