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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5553-H5554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

              A VISION FOR AN AMERICA WITH MORE GRATITUDE

  (Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address [[Page H5554]] the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend 
his remarks, and include extraneous matter.)
  Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
congratulate Joey Hill, a winner of the South Carolina Voice of 
Democracy Broadcast scriptwriting contest in South Carolina. Joey Hill 
is the president of the student body at Southside High School in 
Greenville, SC.
  In this year, on the theme ``My Vision for America,'' Joey wrote 
this: ``I have a vision for America. I long to see gratitude return to 
the hearts of our citizens. Too often we always want to play the 
victim, the person to whom the world owes a great debt. Although 
pointing the finger is easy and maybe even a little fun, we will, after 
continued pointing, find the consequences too great to bear, so we must 
change, and the key to change is gratitude.''
  Mr. Speaker, I agree with Joey, that this is a time of change. We do 
not need to blame others and claim entitlement for past debts. What we 
need, instead, is a little gratitude for what has been given us. I am 
very proud to congratulate Joey today, and to enter his speech in the 
Record of today's proceedings, as follows:

                         My Vision for America

       ``It's too hard.'' ``It's not fair.'' ``I never get the 
     good things in life.'' ``The grass on the other side gets 
     greener and greener while useless stubble sprouts on my side 
     of the fence.'' Complaining; it seems as if it comes natural 
     to Americans. Of the many purposes for which words could be 
     used, complaints tiptoe off our tongues most often and that 
     fact reflects badly on us. We always want to play the victim, 
     the person who is never in the wrong, the person to whom the 
     world owes a great debt. Although pointing the finger is 
     easy, and maybe even a little fun, we will, after continued 
     pointing, find the consequences too great to bear. So we must 
     change, and the key to changing is gratitude. I have a vision 
     for America. I long to see gratitude return to the hearts of 
     our citizens. We must be grateful to those persons who came 
     before us, who paved a smooth, scenic way for us to travel on 
     through life and we must take advantage of the blessings they 
     have won for our sake.
       History is spotted with them. They are dubbed the movers 
     and shakers--the somebodies. The people to whom the United 
     States of America fall into unpayable debt. These persons 
     struggled under the most uncompromising of trials to gain 
     freedoms for this nation's citizens. Their names are many: 
     Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, 
     Thurgood Marshall, Cesar Chavez, John Brown, Harriet Beecher 
     Stowe, John Kennedy, Martin King, Malcolm X. Their voices 
     spoke the same message, but in a myriad of ways. This message 
     covered many topics: perseverance in the midst of a trial, 
     retention of goodwill when the world gives you its worst, 
     striving for excellence in the realm of education. These 
     persons sincerely encouraged us to better ourselves. They 
     gave us wisdom to live by. For example, Cesar Chavez stated 
     to the world that ``the strongest act of manliness is to 
     sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally nonviolent 
     struggle for justice.'' Susan B. Anthony tested our sincerity 
     about the equality of women with her establishment of 
     temperance organizations. And every American has heard of the 
     labors of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--but many of Americans 
     fail to understand the significance of his work. King 
     courageously led a people who were punched, kicked, beaten, 
     bitten by dogs, waterhosed, and murdered in some of the most 
     inhumane ways so that we, the present day citizens of the 
     United States of America--White, Black, Latino, Oriental, 
     Indian, Native American--might be educated in the realm of 
     culture; that we might not be discriminated against because 
     of our culture.
     

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