BRATTLEBORO — Nada told her story of escaping Taliban Afghanistan in her honors student graduation speech at Brattleboro Union High School. Her story was evocative, vivid.
Nada's story is ours.
Surely those wonderful Brattleboro folks who helped Nada, and all of our other new refugee neighbors, could feel the shared connections.
In this country, most of us are immigrants, and many of us - or our ancestors - are refugees.
Some of our ancestors 400 years ago also had to face their fears and find the courage within to escape persecution and face a perilous journey, in order to land in freedom.
We must honor these ancestors who passed on in our blood this courage and open curiosity.
For today, we all need the courage to keep this country's freedoms for which our ancestors fought.
Our system of democracy is in peril. Democracy - from the Greek “demos” (people) and “kratos” (power) - stands on the courageous voices of the people. Without these voices, clear and heard, the entire edifice collapses.
The world is watching us, for our system has been a hope and model since the world's nation-states emerged.
Let us find our ancestral courage within and emulate the example of our new neighbors: to stand up and speak in the most effective way, to reach our leaders, and to be heard.
We must take on this responsibility, in whatever ways we are able, to be citizens. We must use the power of the individual and the power of the people. We must come together and be heard.