Winners have been announced for an essay contest put on by Hearthstone for Veterans Day. 7th graders from Pella Christian Grade School wrote essays about the price of freedom, and why freedom is important to them. Some of the essays were read during a ceremony honoring veterans at Fair Haven East on Friday. The winners are Mark Vande Haar, Alexis De Vries, and Jakob Van Vark. Each of the winning students will receive a U.S. Savings Bond.
Freedom’s Price by Mark Vande Haar
The price of freedom is very big. We lose people every day due to war. But because of
those people, we have the freedom to do the things we want. We can choose what we
want to do when we get older. We are able to worship freely. Some countries don’t
have the freedom that we have. The freedom we have is very important and I am very
grateful that we get to have freedom.
The sacrifices that are made so that we can have our own free country are great.
The people who are called to defend our freedom are trained and then sent off to
fight. Many of the men and women who are sent into action miss out on many family
activities. Some soldiers even sacrifice their lives for us. The men and women often
don’t get to say goodbye to their families.
The men and women who do live and who are able to get back home to see their
family get to rejoice because they get to live another day and get to see their
children grow up. But even they have sacrificed a lot. They have kept us from being
put under a strict ruler and have enabled us to do things that others might not get
to do. Just like in the letters we read, soldiers want their children to understand
the sacrifices that they make for their freedom. Their sacrifice has given us the
opportunity to do almost anything we want.
The freedom the soldiers have earned us has given us the freedom to do things like:
vote, get the career we want, have the friends we want and many more things.
Freedom means that I get to pursue the job I want, farmer, and I get to choose the
class I want to take for college (AG or mechanic). I love that freedom! We also get
to live in our own houses and make our own decisions when we get over 18 (only six
more years)! But I can wait for that time to come.
We can go to a Christian school or a public school. We have a choice that can go
either way. Whether we are black or white or Asian (that’s me), we all have the same
rights and can be just as high up in the business office as others. That feel of freedom
is great!
We have been given the freedom to worship the Lord. We don’t always realize that
we are able to worship the Lord freely without being persecuted and thrown in
jail or killed. We have the freedom to worship freely in our churches without the
government coming in and shutting the church down.
Most of us take for granted that we get to tell others about God and get to have our
own little church groups. Some people have to hide underground or in a pitch dark
house just to talk about the Lord. We get to have a Bible and don’t have to hide it
away, but can keep it anywhere. We are free to worship the Lord our God!
How much does freedom cost us? Well, freedom cost many soldiers their lives while
they were fighting to keep our country free. Thanks to them we can make our own
decisions and can pursue whatever we want as a job. We can do things like worship
God without having persecution. We can have our own Bible. We take for granted all
of the freedom that we have been given. Sometimes we forget those who are being
persecuted in other countries. Our freedom is GREAT!