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Monday, September 29, 2014

Monday Morning Message

Each Monday, I offer a brief message to the students. Sometimes it’s inspirational, sometimes it is to offer advice, and sometimes, it’s related to the weekly theme.  Today, it’s about America, patriotism and how fortunate we are to live in a country with so many freedoms.

If you haven’t traveled outside of the US, you haven’t begun to experience or appreciate all that it means to live in this country.  I traveled to Europe the summer after my senior year in high school, so I was just about the age that many of you are.  I, like many of you, took everything for granted.  School, books, clothes, friends, cars, pizza on Friday night - all of those things that are important to teens - were important to me, too. I expected that I would have those things, but I didn’t think about what sacrifices others had made so that I could have what I wanted - not what I needed, but what I felt was important.

So, that trip to Europe. I traveled with a group of about 70 teenagers, all members of the Youth for Understanding exchange student program. The YFU Chorale was an elite group of vocalists from Michigan and Ohio. After auditioning and passing the YFU exchange student criteria, the year-long preparation and rehearsals began. At the end of June, with itinerary in hand, we boarded the aircraft for the trip across the Atlantic. 

We stayed in youth hostels, with families that did not speak English, and in low-budget hotels with running cold water only.  It was an eight-week trip. No Internet, no cell phones, no long-distance phone calls.  Strange food, new experiences and unfamiliar customs made most of us very homesick.  In Yugoslavia, which is now Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia,  Montenegro and Kosovo, we stayed in youth hostels.  No one spoke English.  We made our way around using improvised sign language and what little translation the guide could provide.  Our beds were dirty mattresses on the floor, the shower was communal - a man actually walked in when I was showering! - and the toilets were a hole in the floor. There were stalls, but no toilets.  The Yugoslav teens we met were members of the communist party. The President, Joseph Tito, was named President for life in 1963.  The teens spoke openly of President Tito and how no one was permitted to speak negatively about him.  They were living in small, state provided apartments, and had a monthly allowance on which to live. No one was permitted to earn more than the government permitted.  It was strange to us, but even stranger was the fact that these teens were happy. This was their world, and this is what they knew. For me and the group that I was traveling with,  it was definitely an experience for which we were woefully unprepared.

Flash back to that teenager living in the suburbs attending a good school, living in a nice house with everything one might want:  me.  Traveling through Europe, and especially into Yugoslavia, gave me a newfound sense of patriotism.  I never realized or appreciated all that America had to offer.  It was definitely an eye-opening experience.   When we flew back over the Statue of Liberty, I felt a sense of patriotism and pride that I can’t even express today, so many years afterward.

So, why do I bring this up?  Well, many reasons.  First, so many of you seem so sad. Putting your life in perspective might help you realize that you are so very, very fortunate.   Second, the the United States Flag.  I wonder, as I look about the BASE class each day, why so many of you choose to stay seated during the Pledge.  I am not judging you or your choice, but I am curious.  Maybe you’re just too tired to stand.  Maybe you really don’t understand all that you’ve been given.  Maybe you don’t like the implied perception of forced patriotism  that saluting the flag assumes.  Whatever your reasons, it does make we wonder.

So, what is the point of all of this?  Simply this.  Please know that you have a great opportunity in this country. You can go to school. You can live where you want.  You can worship in whatever religion you choose. And, you can stay seated during the Pledge.  And I will continue to wonder, every day, how  I can help you to understand how very, very lucky you are to live in this country.

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