There is a certain inner property that is given to Americans upon simply entering this country and being involved in defending our freedoms and exercising our best abilities in this free marketplace. and it is almost something that is undefinable. But as the gentleman was talking about that. I was reflecting that I just read a news article the other day that said that of the seven valedictorians in the high schools in the Boston area. 13 of them were foreign born. and it mentioned that most of them had come to this country only a few years ago. Some of them did not even speak the language a few years ago. and one of them was deaf. When the school administrators were asked how these kids could achieve so much when they apparently started with such a disadvantage. their only answer was that somehow they had a motivation that had been given to them by their parents. and that was extraordinary. and much more than that. that was given to the children of the general communities. these new Americans. these new immigrants and the children of the immigrants. There is indeed a specialness about being in this country that seems to be more achieved by people who have just arrived. because they see the contrast between that which they see now in this flag and all of the freedoms and opportunities embodied in this flag. and that which they left behind. whether it is Vietnam or North Korea or some other place where a totalitarian system is in charge. So we do not have pedigrees in this country. and we do not have thousandyear attachments with our farms and our land as such. as they have in other places. Maybe that Is why the flag is so important. because it is the last thing that we see in many cases covering the bodies of our loved ones. It is something that people from a dozen different lands follow into battle. and many of our battles have been fought by immigrants. by people who are brand new. If we look at every war from the Revolutionary War onward. and look at World War I. it was fought by all of the people that came in and were part of the Teddy Roosevelt melting pot. who ended up bearing arms in Europe to protect the rights and achieve freedom for our brethren in Europe. and for the other Western democracies. people who had been brought together by this unique. compelling magnet called America. So the flag is a piece of uniquely American property.
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foreign born immigrants