Our long rest is at an end. America’s youth, sheltered for so many years from hardship and conflict under a blanket of security woven by our forefathers, are now called to the front lines in what the president has called “A war between freedom and fear”. And now, the great task of ensuring that the American way of life continues has fallen to us. The generation no one believed in, is the generation everyone is depending on.

The battle to rid the world of terrorism will require time, money and vigilance. For those among us who wear the uniform of America’s armed forces, the cost may be higher still. Even as you read this, young men and women at sea, on land and in the air are putting themselves in harm’s way. Military service, often regarded by our cohort with a quiet disdain and sometimes outright contempt must now be seen as what it really is: a noble and necessary calling upon which our freedom rests.

In recent weeks many of us have given blood to aid victims, but is one pint all we are prepared to shed for our country?

Here at home the United States will need thousands of new volunteers. The call will soon go out for FBI agents and lab technicians, diplomats and covert operatives, translators and sky marshals. Homeland security will be the responsibility of every American, but it will be the full-time profession of thousands of young Americans drawn from our ranks.

Many in our generation are blessed with unique talents and abilities coveted by the private sector, but what will it profit our nation if we ignore the call of public service?

Countless Americans, most not much older than you, gave what they could for freedom’s sake at places like Guadalcanal, Omaha beach and the ChoSin reservoir. Their sacrifices are etched in the faded scars of our parents and grandparents; and their stories are whispered at American Legion posts and high school reunions that grow smaller with each passing year. Before they are gone, let us prove to those who gave so much that their sacrifice was not in vain, that we are worthy of lives cut short and dreams put on hold.

Let our generation step forward now and answer the question that has spurred Americans to greatness for over two centuries: “In defense of your liberty, what are you prepared to do?”

-David Schild
class of 2001