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Show Prize Winning Essay Presented By Miss Evelyn riinz Americanism is the love of home. Home is to us a place we call our own. It is the shrine of all that is happiest ard noblest and best in all the str. rings of your heart. And so when we call our country our Homeland, it is something some-thing more than a name, we love it as we love no other land. It is second mother to us all, and as you love your mother so you must love your land. We love our home because it shelters us, and so we love our land. We must be free to think and do the things we will; we must be free to live a life we wish to live; and it is to our country that we owe our freedom. It builds about us walls of strength that we rarely see, but let an enemy appear and our country is encircled as by a ring of steel. It is we who make the nation strong or weak. It is no small thing that our country does for us in, guarding our rights to a civilized life. Through our knowledge know-ledge and truth our country has given us liberty and pleasures. No friend of a nation supports it in wrong-doing, for wrongdoings wrong-doings strike at the heart of a nation, and in the end will bring it down. The surest way of helping a country to be great is to help it to do right, and he is the truest patriot who fearlessly supports a righteous cause in those dark hours when it happens to be unpopular. un-popular. -The only patriotism with a clear path all the time is the patriotism of eternal right. We must love mankind, and nothing is more false than to talk as if patriotism was expected to exclude all other countries from our interest. All the world matters mat-ters to us, for all the world is bound to us, and we are bound to all the world. We want in this country none of the trappings of centralized authority; such things we resent. But there is no reason why we should not have more demonstrations demonstra-tions of love of country and loyalty loy-alty to its institutions and Americanism. Ameri-canism. Liberty over much of the globe has its back to the wall. "Liberty" says many dictators, "is ' already dead", not here it isn't, but there are those who would like to see it so, and if we are to checkmate them nur livintr mnct hpfAmo tn us a living, vital thing that is quick to resent encroachments, strong to repel attacks from within with-in or wifhqut, eager to offer itself it-self as a way of life to all mankind. man-kind. Liberty should be on the march not. waiting for an attach. There are good and sufficient reasons why we should have demonstrations of Americanism. We are a conglomerate people gathered together from the ends of the earth, the newest comer is as free to come and go in all our towns and cities as are the descendants of those who founded the nation. This is one of our strengths, it is also one of our weaknesses, for while those of alien birth sense our freedom, they do not often see nor feel the tie that binds in an inseparable insepar-able whole. They are not used 1 to going months without hearing martial music or seeing a soldier's umiorm. i ney nave Deen constantly con-stantly aware of a central authority; they have heard daily their country's songs. Whether; right or. wrong the Homeland reaches out to them in sentiment and it would not seem too surprising sur-prising for many of them to yield. So in all seriousness let us brush off the dust of our real demonstrations of Americanism Talk patriotism at home, at school,, and public gatherings. Pray for true Americanism. Let us sing our national anthem frequently in all gatherings gather-ings throughout the nation. Don't stop with singing or standing at respectful attention while the music is being played. Make Americanism and Patriotism e rallying cry in your community Don't let the dictators convince anybody under our flag tha' government by them or their like is better than government by ourselves. our-selves. Remember we must do our part individually in this generation, genera-tion, if we expect the next one , to find our flag the same old I flag to be "still there". Americanism Ameri-canism is not narrow. And as for us if we forget our native land let Liberty forsake us. |