chance scoggins on bravery

The writer Chance Scoggins wrote an insightful piece that hinges on the phrase "the home of the brave." Exactly what kind of bravery are we talking about? Read on.

    I enjoyed U.S. History more than most students around me, but in the years that have passed, I've forgotten more names and dates than I remember. Our history is complicated and imperfect. There are facets I don't fully understand.
     But I do understand the man who wanted more for his children than he had for himself. I sense his desperation. I feel his determination. I respect his resolve — crossing an ocean, leaving everything behind that had been, carrying nothing with him but his hope and his will.
     If I'm quiet and still, I can imagine what it might have been like for the early settlers to carve a road where there was nothing, exploring unknown territories, in search of a new and better life, a place to belong. Setting their sights, slowly and painfully, they began to build: a barn, a cabin, a church with a steeple, a community of workers, a little town, a government, a country, a Home.
     Hard as I try, I can't imagine what it must have cost. But I can understand why, having paid that unimaginable price, they'd risk their lives again to protect what they'd built.
     In my mind, I hear their cry for freedom, along with each generation that has followed — so that the pursuit of life, and liberty, and happiness can be enjoyed by all people…including me.
     It makes me want to say "Thank you". I wish I could find a way to somehow reach back in time and say the words.
     To anyone who has paid a price for the freedom I enjoy, to anyone who has fought a fight on my behalf, Thank you. Thank you for clearing a path for me to follow after. Thank you for sacrificing much, so I wouldn't do without. Thank you for acting boldly and with great courage, even in the face of fear, even though it cost you everything. The life I live is built squarely on your shoulders.
     Over 200 years have passed and we find ourselves standing where generations before us once stood, dreaming of days to come, building the future by our words and deeds, creating what will someday be. May we live up to the example of those who've come before us. May we continue to cry out for freedom and sacrifice to protect it. May America continue to be The Home Of The Brave.