[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5455]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING KATELYN MOODY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETE OLSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2012

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to interact with some of the 
brightest students in the 22nd Congressional District who serve on my 
Congressional Youth Advisory Council. I have gained much by listening 
to the high school students who are the future of this great Nation. 
They provide important insight into the concerns of our younger 
constituents and hopefully get a better sense of the importance of 
being an active participant in the political process. Many of the 
students have written short essays on a variety of topics and I am 
pleased to share these with my House colleagues.
  Katelyn Moody is a sophomore at Deer Park High School in Harris 
County, Texas. Her essay topic is: In your opinion, why is it important 
to be involved in the political process?


          Importance of Participation in the Political Process

       In life each person is responsible for finding his or her 
     own happy ending. This also suggests that we walk a path in 
     our life with our happiness. The pursuit of happiness as we 
     have come to phrase it in our own government. Within our 
     pursuit of happiness, we are not only one, we are a unified 
     nation, who has withstood the best of times and the worst of 
     times, who has come to the rescue when no one else will take 
     a stand. A unified nation who is not made of one, but made of 
     many. For our country depends on those who are in pursuit of 
     America's happiness and therefore citizens must stand for 
     what is right and what is just. Our first step to pursue our 
     country, the United States of America's happiness is to step 
     forward and become involved in the political process.
       It is of vital importance that each and every person is 
     involved in making decisions for our country. If we are a 
     nation who will stand for nothing, we will fall for anything. 
     The citizens must be the strong hold of our country and hold 
     our ground. For instance being involved in the political 
     process is a citizen's duty and responsibility. Citizens must 
     be aware of current events in the world and how that one 
     situation could impact us locally, nationally, and globally. 
     It is imperative for one to know what is going on in your 
     country for you to be able to form decisions about what is 
     right and what is just. Knowledge is valuable and can reveal 
     to us what is best for our country. If a person isn't 
     involved in our country's political process it shows a lack 
     of interest in what is best for America and its people. If we 
     lose sight of how our country was based on the ability to 
     make choices that benefit our government and its inhabitants, 
     we have lost our patriotism. Our country is only as good as 
     it's citizens collective efforts.
       They say character is what you do when no one is watching. 
     From my standpoint, I interpret this as we can't only take 
     part in the political process when it is important to us, but 
     we must take part in the political process at all times 
     because it is important to every American. Americans' 
     beliefs, ethics, morals and values are illuminated through 
     our choices and our political standpoints. Our voices should 
     not be silent echoes ringing through our nation, but should 
     envelop the nation with our prevalent concern. Our voices 
     will be heard, but the choice is ours to speak up. Speaking 
     up shows our character and who we each are and what we 
     believe in. It unveils how we should be constant participants 
     in America's political process. If we all stand together for 
     what we believe in and what are values are, how could our 
     country go wrong? We can't prevail with only some 
     participators, everyone must participate to guarantee our 
     freedoms and our pursuit of happiness.
       You see, our founding fathers put forth an insurmountable 
     effort to guarantee our freedom and our pursuit of 
     prosperity. We must ask ourselves, to what extent will our 
     generation rise to protect those same rights for another 
     strong hold, another upcoming generation. We must speak up, 
     show what we stand for, and let the character of America be 
     unveiled. We must not sit like ducks thinking to ourselves, 
     ``Oh well, they can handle it, they will surely speak up'' 
     because if they don't, our strong hold is no longer and we 
     will show our lack of interest in our political processes 
     which protect freedom and the pursuit of a full and 
     prosperous life. And, without those things we would be left 
     in an abyss of nothingness. It is shown here how important 
     taking part in political processes proves to be and the 
     consequences of not doing so. Remember, the choice is ours to 
     speak up. American's are responsible for finding our own 
     happiness and to continue pursuing this, no matter the cost.

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