The five recipients of this year’s Veterans of Foreign Wars’ scholarship contests, the Patriots Pen and the Voice of Democracy include East Ridge seventh graders Francesca Bermudez, left, and Emily Parker and Scotts Ridge seventh grader James Crawford. Back row, from left: Scotts Ridge principal Tim Salem, East Ridge history teacher Will Boylan, Scotts Ridge seventh grader Claire McLam, RHS junior Devon Hartford, and Walter Goodman, of the Ridgefield VFW. —Steve Coulter photo
The Ridgefield Veterans of Foreign Wars asked, “What is patriotism?” and students answered in an essay contest that concluded in January.
According to the five winners, patriotism can mean a lot of things and be represented in a variety of ways — an ailing veteran standing to salute the flag on the Fourth of July, a community writing letters to soldiers, and a country united in its mission to overcome the most unbelievable of tragedies.
RHS junior Devon Harford won the VFW’s Voices of Democracy contest for high school students, while four middle schoolers were recognized for their submissions to the Patriot’s Pen — the VFW’s middle school competition.
In her essay titled “The Future of America,” Ms. Harford talked about the discovery of America and connected it back to country’s current struggle with immigration.
“The land has been a refuge, an opportunity, and a promise throughout its time, from the first landing of the Pilgrims to the crowd at Ellis Island to the continuing tide of immigrants today,” she wrote. “We can study how it has grown, how it has failed, and how it has succeeded, but we can also predict how it will continue to grow.
“Because of its past and its current path, I believe that there is only one way to proceed, and that is into an even better future.”
Ms. Harford said she wrote the paper during the governmental shutdown in October and remembers her classmates “freaking out about and wondering how can we move on from this?”
“I wanted to focus on how, throughout history, the people of America made changes rather than just the government,” she said. “It was essentially about ‘we the people’ and what that phrase means today and beyond.”
While all five essay winners delved into democracy, Ms. Harford centered her essay on ideals that were set forth in the Constitution and that helped propel the nation through times of crisis — both domestic and abroad.
“I have faith that America will continue to hold these values and these promises, and therefore will continue to move forward,” she wrote.
She noted that the “country has been hard times,” but survived conflicts such the Civil War and the Cold War as well as overcame great social challenges such as women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights era.
Times of economic despair, like the Great Depression and the recent recession, were met with determination and strength, she added.
“We are prepared and experienced, and ready to face the challenges, she wrote. “We have done this throughout our entire history…
“America set the foundation for a nation that was unlike any before it.”
She concluded by talking about Sept. 11, 2011 and how it was the best example in her lifetime of America’s resilience.
“It’s not only a day of mourning and remembering those lost, but also a day of remembering how we came back, how we have continued to fight the war on terrorism, and how we had victories in the face of losses, and advances in the face of retreats,” she wrote. “This proves that this nation is not one to back down or give up, nor is it a nation to stop reaching for the light at the end of the darkness.
“We have shown our perseverance time and time again, and there is nothing that can stop us from doing the same thing now.”
Overcoming impossible odds to pay honor to country is what Scotts Ridge eighth grader Claire McLam wrote about in “A Veteran’s Undying Passion.”
Claire wrote about her grandfather, John McGeown, who served in World War II but now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
“Patriotism, to me, cannot be expressed in words; instead, it is captured in the persistent passion of an aging patriot, my grandfather,” she wrote. “He can’t remember his own children’s name, much less his grandchildren’s. But somewhere, deep inside, he still remembers his days as a veteran and his love for country.”
She recalled watching him stand up and salute the flag during the Fourth of July this past year.
“Every inch of him was as straight as a young soldier,” she wrote. “He sang his heart out and I saw tears in his eyes. For a moment, he was transported to another time, another place.”
So to answer the VFW’s simple question, Claire had an even simpler answer.
“When I think of patriotism, I think of John McGeown — a man who, even in a time of grave illness, expresses great dedication to his country.”
East Ridge seventh grader James Crawford also discussed a veteran in his family — his Uncle Ralph, who served in Korea and died recently.
“Even though I was very young, I remember his funeral — everyone was a military uniform,” James said. “That compelled me to write the essay, knowing what he did as a soldier.”
The other two middle school winners — Francesca Bermudez and Emily Parker, a pair of East Ridge seventh graders, also talked about veterans in their paper and honoring those who serve America today.
“The veterans and people who are serving right now are part of this country, they’re the ones who make America a country,” Ms. Bermudez wrote. “Patriotism is important to me because we need to show the people who fought for America that we are grateful.
“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have a home, you wouldn’t have a home, no one would have a place to call home,” she added. “Patriotism doesn’t mean we are better than others, but it does mean we are proud of what we have and have no intentions on giving it up.”
Emily wrote her essay, “What Patriotism Means to Me,” in what she called “a poetic form” with lyrics, repetition and rhymes.
“I wanted to write about everyone and how we all display patriotism,” she said. “I started small with how I’m patriotic and then went to how the community is patriotic and how my family and kept going until I was talking about all Americans.”
She made reference to patriot acts such as hoisting the American flag in front of the school, writing letters and sending care packages to soldiers, and pledging allegiance to the flag every morning.
“My classmates and I pledge how proud we are to be Americans,” she wrote. “We are patriots.”
Indeed, patriotism can be a lot of things.
It can be a lot of people, too.
From students to veterans, the answer isn’t as complicated as it seems — patriotism is us.