Sophia won 2nd place on her essay!

Sophia wrote an essay for the VFW competition and won 2nd place out of all the 6th, 7th and 8th graders who participated.  She also won $75 for her 2nd place victory.  She is a very talented writer!

Here is her essay.

Charles E. Jefferson once said, “A man is a patriot if his heart beats true to his country.” Being a true patriotic person isn’t something people do because everyone does it. It isn’t something one does for popularity either, it is something they do because they know it’s right. Patriotism inspires those willing to put their life on the line for us. One soldier has a very remarkable story of his version of patriotism.

Even though everyone said that he was never going to be a diver, through great determination, Carl Brashear was the first African American naval diver. It was his dream to become a diver, but when he started out, no one believed in him. With everyone pushing him down he rose and proved them all wrong. During a retrieval mission he went underwater to find an object but when they were pulling the object out of the water a pulley system broke and cut Carl’s leg very badly, so bad they had to amputate his leg. Even with a prosthetic leg he continued to dive.                                                            

Carl’s act of patriotism is very inspiring to me. It inspires me to be a more patriotic person to this country, which means honoring and loving our country. It means fighting for this country like all the brave soldiers who go and risk their lives. But that’s not the only way to be loyal. If we want to be a patriotic person we don’t have to go out and join the military, just voting, or saying the pledge of allegiance is honoring our country.

Like Carl, we should act in confidence that we are being a devoted citizen of this country. Patriotism isn’t something people put aside like it’s no big deal. Patriotism is the will to love, fight and die for one’s country. It’s loving and honoring this country; it’s saluting a fallen solider who died protecting us. It’s knowing that this is a free country, and we can have our voice heard above all the noise in the world.

If we don’t have Patriotism, what is the point for all the bold soldiers to go and fight in a war? What’s the point of putting your hand over your heart and saying ‘liberty and justice’ for all, if we don’t believe it? I believe it, and I hope all the people of this nation believe in justice for all, and patriotism for our country.