I realized that I don't have to write everything on this website off the cuff! So I decided to put up some of my other writing. I'm sorry I haven't been updating much lately, but classes just started up again, and all my creativity is being poured into my fanfictions, which any of my readers will tell you are not going very fast! So to tide you over (yeah, right!), here's something to read.

This was my entry for the "Voice of Democracy" writing contest run by the VFW. I won locally, but didn't get any farther than that (which kind of burned me, because I heard the girl whose speech won the next level, and it wasn't very good!). I gave this the week of graduation (which meant I was very nervous about both speeches!) to the local VFW, which I think was... oh, maybe 30 people. I was petrified. My knees were shaking so bad, I thought they were gonna have to scrape me off the floor with a spatula. If you'll notice, there's a huge section devoted to the military, because I was writing for the VFW! :) So here it is. If you steal or copy it, I will find you and break you in half. Have fun!

“My Commitment to America’s Future” Voice of Democracy Speech

I may never found a charity organization. I may never join the military or win a medal for bravery. I may not hold a public office or work for the government. But I can still participate in the great deeds of the world and insure a better future for my family and my nation through the kind of actions which will never appear on the evening news. Our country is a republic, a democracy—by the people, for the people. John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” We must help each other in order to survive. Every small action of every individual reverberates through history. We learned this in early childhood, through a nursery rhyme—“...The kingdom was lost, and all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

When I look at all the amazing role-models we have—political activists, like Thomas Paine or Cesar Chavez; military leaders, like George Washington or George S. Patton; social activists like Martin Luther King or Susan B. Anthony, I realize that people like that are one in a million. Every person cannot be an extraordinary individual.

However, there are role models that I feel I can emulate, and in doing so, help my country. They are the normal, working-class people that I see around me every day. They are schoolteachers, housewives and farmers. They are average people living average lives—with amazing effects. Their tiny actions—their many “horseshoe nails” hold the nation together, hold their society and their families together. Schoolteachers, though they are paid little, teach the history of our nation to our youth. Housewives impart family values to their children. And farmers, looked down on as unsophisticated, provide food for our nation and individually improve our communities through their hard work. These individual actions of our fellow citizens do improve our nation, society, and families. But these people play an even greater role in our nation through their collective actions.

Collectively, these citizens vote. The right and responsibility to vote for our leaders in this country is an incredible expression of freedom and privilege, and a way to preserve our nation. A very simple but important act in preserving America is to vote in our elections and encourage others to do the same. By their examples and their teachings, voters can convey to our youth the importance of their political privileges.

Another example that these work-a-day people set for us is in their support of our military, whether they join it or not. Across my hometown during this last war in Iraq, I have seen dozens of yellow ribbons proudly displayed on trees, front doors and car antennas. The people who support our military at home, while they may not actually be part of the fighting, have a great effect on the morale of our troops. A young woman from my community was involved in this recent conflict to bring freedom to the people of Iraq. Members of the community rallied around her and sent her hundreds of letters and packages. In the midst of hardship and conflict, she was uplifted by their support. Schoolteachers organized class projects to send cards, housewives and farmers send packages and letters full of love and praise. The kind of ordinary citizens who wrote to her speak out in praise at the amazing courage which our soldiers display in the face of terrible danger. They consider it their glory to honor them. Even if my own path never leads me into the United States military, I can join the ranks of the citizens at home who display ribbons, speak out in support of our troops, and volunteer with organizations that send cards and care packages to them. I can emulate my common role models in this.

On the home front, while most of us will never establish charities, we can participate in them. Such simple acts as volunteering at a soup kitchen or donating to a worthy cause can improve the lives of our fellow Americans. When compared to many countries of the world, we have amassed unbelievable wealth. We can share our wealth with those less fortunate than ourselves, and maybe one day, when we are in need, someone that we helped can help us. As John Steinbeck wrote in his book, “The Grapes of Wrath”, “’I have a little food’ plus ‘I have none.’ If from this problem the sum is ‘We have a little food,’ the thing is on its way, the movement has direction.” “...For two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one.” This can be applied politically as well. By speaking out when we see injustices and supporting those who fight them, we preserve not only the rights and freedoms of the wronged, but our own rights and freedoms. We must work together to accomplish great things. A single snowflake is beautiful, and it melts in a second. But a blizzard can bring down an oak.

Finally, one of the most effective things we can do to insure the future of our country is to live a wise and moral life. To temper justice with mercy, truth with love and courage with compassion; to recognize a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time for war and a time for peace; to serve humbly and speak clearly, that all may hear our voices raised in protest or in praise. These are goals within every man’s reach, be they great figures in history or small. And this is my commitment to America’s future.

Ashley J. Barner, 2004