DIRNBERGER'S 'SERVICE TO AMERICA' (STUDENT ESSAY)

As I stood in the darkness of the theater watching the end of the war movie "Saving Private Ryan," my eyes welled up with tears as the older Private Ryan stood at the grave of his friend. This scene made me think about how much these brave men and women have had to suffer and sacrifice so that our freedom may endure to this day.

From where I stood I could see many of the reactions of the people in the audience. Some wept, others held their heads low, and still others seemed so shocked that emotional reaction was impossible for them to express. What attracted my attention, however, was the reaction of the war veterans who had come to see the movie that day.

The veterans sat in a group on the top row. None of them had shown any emotion during the movie until Private Ryan saluted the grave of his friend. At that moment the entire group of veterans stood up silently. Each one took off his hat, and all bowed their heads. This simple, quiet act touched me deeply and almost drove me to tears. It filled me with a deep sense of pride and admiration for these men and women who had endured so much for our country.

As I walked out of the theater I felt ashamed. These people had given so much and I have given so little. Then I began to think about my service to America, what was I doing to try and make this country a better place? I could not think of any major task that I had accomplished to make me worthy of the freedom that was given to me. Then I thought of a very different service that I had been performing since I was young. I have always tried to do well in school, be an upright citizen, and obey the laws, but these things were so minor, so insignificant that they could not possibly matter in this big country of ours.

I know now that I was wrong about these small services to America. These services are not insignificant; they are the most important services that we as Americans today can do for our country. Just think what would happen if everyone tried just a little harder to do better, work together and be the best they can be. Our country would be just a little bit better place to live and work.

There are the pessimists who say that this view is nothing but a utopian philosophy that can never come true, but these people have miscalculated their predictions of the future. They have forgotten about the power of the human spirit. This power can overcome any obstacle or challenge that is presented to it. All the spirit needs is a catalyst to push it on.

Too many Americans have lost their faith in the human spirit. The media's negative news and the magazines' slanderous articles break down the structure of society. These things lead our entire society to believe that the world is a horrible place filled with the monsters that used to haunt us as children. I believe that the human spirit can be reborn. If we all do our part or if even just a few of us do a little, the human spirit will shine through the negativity that surrounds us, and we can defeat the monsters that the media has led us to believe exist in our society.

Your service to America can be large or small, depending on the type of person you are. It does not take much to help your country or another person. Voting, volunteering or simply picking up a piece of trash on the ground can help all of us. Don't say you don't have enough time to do something good and helpful. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein (H. Jackson Brown Jr.) Remember, if you don't do it, you'll never know what would have happened if you had done it.

My service to America and my suggestions may seem small, but in reality they are larger than you can imagine. By doing these little things we are contributing to a larger body of people who, like me, believe that the human spirit is the most powerful thing of all once it is driven on.

The war today, my friends, is not on the battlefields of a foreign country but on the very land of our own country. My service, indeed all our services, to America is simply to be the best we can be, to fight the good fight, and be someone who is strong and proud to call themselves an American. We do that and everything that our elders bled, fought and died for will truly be honored. We will be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!