David Rodeback's BlogLocal Politics and Culture, National Politics,
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Friday, August 13, 2004"Hello, Freedom Man"Here's another excerpt from President Reagan's farewell address on January 11, 1989. The refugee's view of a US Navy sailor is my view - and I suspect many Iraqis' and Afghans' - of our people in uniform over there. I found this speech most recently at Empower America's home page. I've been reflecting on what the past eight years have meant and mean. And the image that comes to mind like a refrain is a nautical one - a small story about a big ship, and a refugee and a sailor. It was back in the early '80s, at the height of the boat people. And the sailor was hard at work on the carrier Midway, which was patrolling the South China Sea. The sailor, like most American servicemen, was young, smart, and fiercely observant. The crew spied on the horizon a leaky little boat. And crammed inside were refugees from Indochina hoping to get to America. The Midway sent a small launch to bring them to the ship and safety. As the refugees made their way through the choppy seas, one spied the sailor on deck and stood up and called out to him. He yelled, "Hello, American sailor. Hello, freedom man." A small moment with a big meaning, a moment the sailor, who wrote it in a letter, couldn't get out of his mind. And when I saw it, neither could I. Because that's what it was to be an American in the 1980s. We stood, again, for freedom. I know we always have, but in the past few years the world again, and in a way, we ourselves rediscovered it.
Copyright 2004 by David Rodeback. |
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