Voice of Democracy winner Doreen Xu holds her award from VFW Post 4848 and is congratulated by Post Commander Bill Medley.  Photo by Al Syler.

Filed April 2, 2010

Baylor student places first in VFW
Voice of Democracy competition

The National Veterans of Foreign Wars each years sponsors a contest for high school students to write an essay in the Voice of Democracy competition.  Cash scholarship awards g0 to the winner on local, state and national basis.
Wilkes T. Thrasher VFW Post 4848 on Riverside Drive is one of those taking part.  Doreen Xu, a petite student at Baylor School, was the post's winner with a moving expression of patriotism.   And she placed third in the state.
CAM is proud to produce her essay below.

American Heroes
By Doreen Xu

Does America still have heroes? My initial reaction when I heard this thought-provoking question was, quite honestly, hesitation. Do we have heroes? Heroes were the mythic legends of the past like Robin Hood or even more recent ones such as Superman, weren’t they? Capable of mesmerizing feats, endowed with extraordinary talents, they held an air of invincibility and to me, possessed almost superhuman qualities. Does our great nation have such people? Certainly not anymore, I thought. They now only exist on the pages of history textbooks or in comic books.

But one incident a couple years ago helped me understand the flawed logic in my thinking. I happened to be driving to school one day, and I decided to switch radio stations during a commercial. It was news-hour, and I tuned in just in time to hear about Captain Chris Carter, a soldier from Watkinsville, Georgia. As he was in the midst of securing Baghdad with fellow soldiers, he witnessed an elderly woman get stuck in the haze of bullets as she tried to cross a bridge into a safer zone. Captain Carter did not hesitate: he ordered his armored vehicle to stop and tossed a grenade for cover while he dashed towards the terrified woman. Then, with the help from comrades and the cover of his M-16 rifle, he carried the wounded woman to the safety of an ambulance. As the story ended, I was obviously moved, but even more, I realized a profound point: heroism wasn’t just limited to the idyllic past or the confines of a superhero comic; rather, it occurs every moment, symbolized most aptly by the sacrifices and commitment of our soldiers. But heroism doesn’t just end with Captain Carter. It extends to all the soldiers of today and their actions that more often than not go undetected, unreported, and unrecognized, never to be told again in the American realm of heroes; it extends to the heroes of past wars, of today’s veterans, and their stories of service and duty to country. It is, most unifyingly and resoundingly, a collective story of strength and triumph in the face of adversity—it is an American story.  

From this, I realized a remarkably simple but remarkable answer to this question: a resolute and unequivocal yes, America most definitely still has heroes. Just because our heroes that have fought or are fighting don’t have the brand-name ring as Spiderman or the media coverage as Randy Pausch doesn’t make them any less of a hero. A hero is defined by his or her actions, not by press reports. Every moment of every day, heroism is evident in the actions and selflessness of our nation’s current soldiers and veterans, fighting for a unique set of American values. From men like Captain Carter to other unknown but no less extraordinary men, heroism is in action from the fields of Afghanistan to an Iraqi village. And from the birth of our nation, our great soldiers and veterans have epitomized the very meaning of heroism through their commitment to the ideals that our Founding Fathers envisioned: freedom and liberty for all. Take a moment to reflect. Heroism is unquestionably not only present, but alive and well and found in the selfless duty of our nation’s soldiers and veterans, a profound legacy and testament to the vision of our forefathers throughout America.