The heroes in our midst

Tom Hess / Hungry Horse News

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — a remarkably nonviolent end to a superpower conflict that consumed billions of American dollars and Soviet rubles and innumerable lives.

On a visit to the Ronald Reagan Library in the mid-1990s, I saw the hefty chunk of concrete wall displayed there and marveled at what the 40th president's uncompromising policies — "peace through strength," "trust but verify" — had accomplished.

America resisted the wall from the beginning. When the Soviets erected it in 1949, artifically dividing families and neighborhoods, American pilots flew hundreds of missions, airlifting tons of food, including candy for grateful German children who would later grow old with fond memories of U.S. generosity.

As I watched the Veterans' Day ceremony at Columbia Falls High School this week, I thought of those courageous American pilots, and of President Reagan, and wondered silently who among the hundreds of Wildcat students in attendance would be inspired by our local veterans and someday lead America to new heroic acts.

Then I watched two second-graders from Sherry Jolley's Ruder Elementary class bravely stand in front of hundreds of high schoolers and 45 veterans and read their essays on heroism. Then two fifth-graders from Cathy Spencer's class talk boldly about freedom. That's when I realized that by moving to Columbia Falls, I have joined a remarkable community. The character of the children here give me renewed hope for our nation's future.

And here's my wish — that the children who attended the event will never forget the sacrifices of the aging veterans they saw entering and leaving the school on oxygen and in wheelchairs, that these children will grow to provide political leadership that honors our military and defends our freedoms, and that these children will understand that there is evil in this world to be resisted, and fought, if necessary.

I'm glad Columbia Falls High isn't the only school in the state to annually honor its local veterans, so that second-graders and fifth-graders and newspaper editors across Montana can think about things greater than themselves.

P.S.: Columbia Falls isn't the only Montana school that honored its local veterans this week.

Three Forks High School, Ennis High School and Stevensville High School all held on-campus rallies Wednesday.