I am honoured to have my very own 16 year old contributing her writing for today's post. Enjoy...
I had the great honor of being a patriotic citizen on Wednesday. I, along with my dear friends, Katelynn and Campbell, assisted an organization called Generation Joshua (GenJ). GenJ is a youth organization that is a division of HSLDA, and helps the youth of America become educated and involved in politics, government, history and civics. The girls and I were calling members of GenJ and asking them if they were interested in becoming involved with Student Action Teams. Student Action Teams are groups of youth ages 11-19 that volunteer to go to specific cities and support pro-life and pro-family candidates with making signs, making phone calls, and door to door surveying. It was very stretching for me, as I used to have a phobia of making phone calls. Thankfully now, I believe that fear is over. It was very cool. I got to call all over Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Michigan. If you would like more info about GenJ, then please visit their website: Generation Joshua
My mum and I also had heard that Mr. Mitt Romney was going to be in town Wednesday evening, speaking at a park about thirty minutes from us. On a spur of the moment impulse, Campbell, Katelynn, and their sister McKenzie and I decided we must go! After obtaining permission from both sets of parental units, we set off on an unexpected adventure. It was absolutely crazy and fun...I used my iPhone to secure tickets for the 4 of us on the drive over.
When we arrived at the park, I was blown away by how many people had actually come (we found out later that there were 6000 people there). We stood in line for about 20 minutes to get to the gate and had to pass through metal detectors. There were Secret Service agents walking around and most of them were in plain clothes (I could tell who they were by the imposing posture, large sunglasses and subtle earpieces).
It was all a bit overwhelming for me, to be so close to the nation's capital, with thousands of Americans around me and being able to hear our presidential candidate. Several people, whom unfortunately I can't remember all the names of, spoke before Mr. Romney came to the podium.
We said the Pledge of Allegiance (which I memorized in kindergarten) and sang our national anthem. That's when I began to cry. I felt an enormous wave of pride as the song swelled into the "And the rocket's red glare / the bombs bursting in air". I could have exploded with happiness. When Mr. Romney finally stepped up to the podium, the screams and cheers were those of no less enthusiasm than a rock concert.
He spoke about the way that he is going to improve our country and how he is going to lead us triumphantly out of this economic crisis. He also spoke of the qualities that gave our country her strong foundation. He talked of liberty, independence, honor, bravery, qualities that nowadays are often regarded as "old-fashioned".
There's a quote in the mega-hit movie, the Avengers, that goes along well with this thought:
Agent Phil Coulson: We've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input.
Steve Rogers/Captain America: The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little...old fashioned?
Agent Phil Coulson: Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned.
After the rally, the girls and I ventured to Chick-Fil-A and had a lovely time with more friends. There we were, sitting in a distinctly American restaurant, after having attended a Republican presidential rally. It was an absolutely wonderful, wonderful time.
