[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E690-E691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING ARMAAN SHRIVASTAV OF RACE BROOK SCHOOL IN ORANGE, CONNECTICUT

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                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 24, 2021

  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, each year the community of Orange, 
Connecticut gathers for a solemn ceremony to mark Memorial Day. As part 
of this ceremony, local elementary school students are invited to 
submit essays that share their thoughts on Memorial Day and its meaning 
to them. Submissions from each of the community's three elementary 
schools are selected to be included in the ceremony. I had the 
opportunity to join the Orange ceremony this year and was inspired by 
the words of this year's winners and am pleased to have this 
opportunity to share them.
  Armaan Shrivastav, a student at Race Brook School submitted the 
following essay:

       Why is Memorial Day Celebrated? Unreasoning leads to anger. 
     Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to desire for power. Power 
     leads to war. For war, we need soldiers. So many soldiers die 
     serving their nation. Memorial Day is for remembering those 
     brave soldiers who gave up their lives for their fellow 
     citizens.
       Memorial Day is when we honor and remember the brave 
     soldiers. We celebrate Memorial Day to show respect for them. 
     We must thank these soldiers who sacrificed themselves for 
     the country. Memorial Day is a day to bow to them. Many 
     people celebrate this day by going to their family's graves 
     together and hold a gathering or participate in a parade. New 
     York is the birthplace of Memorial Day. After the Civil War, 
     which claimed many lives, people started decorating graves 
     with flowers. This came to be known as Decoration Day. Since 
     then, people have started giving more importance to this day 
     by visiting soldier's graves every year, so the government 
     officially announced the last Monday of May as Memorial Day.
       Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday of May. This 
     year Memorial Day is on 31st May. We should all honor these 
     brave soldiers, offer flowers to them and remember their 
     selfless service for the nation and what they did for us.

  For more than two hundred years American soldiers have answered the 
call to defend our land and our values of freedom and democracy. With 
annual ceremonies like the one in Orange, that engage our youngest 
citizens, we ensure that we will never forget that our armed forces 
have a long and proud history, and that every one of our veterans has 
demonstrated outstanding courage, dedication, and service. It is my 
honor to rise today to thank Armaan Shrivastav for his very special 
contribution to Memorial Day and his community.

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