There are few countries in the Western World whose formation, birth, and history is as concentrated in a specific geographical region as the United States. The "great American experiment" as it is often referred to was conceived, gestated, and birthed in an area in this corner of the country equivalent in size to the Peace River District in British Columbia.

The relatively recent birth of this nation in comparison to others of its stature ensures that the story of the last several hundred years is still clearly and proudly proclaimed on every highway, byway, and back alley of its birthplace.

We have walked through the home of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence and contemplated the inner turmoil that must have seized his mind as he penned the words "all men are created equal," knowing that the lives of over 200 African Americans were considered his personal property. We have stood in places where the anguish and labor of a nation being born caused many to wonder if a return to the reign of the English king would be preferable to the struggle they faced. We have walked through the home of the man whose character and faith gave them courage to fight on to victory in the face of losing odds, only to relinquish all his power as the conquering general who many wanted for their new king and return to his farm. We have stood in the chapel where he worshipped on the day of his inauguration 5 years later as the first president. This same president voluntarily left office after two terms of service to discourage those who would still have made him king, preferring to be thought of as an American citizen. We have walked the streets of the city built to house the government of the fledgling democracy and read the story of its burning by the British in a subsequent conflict over American sovereignty. In that same city we have read the story of America's own imperialistic expansion, often through means that would today be decried unanimously by the United Nations, in the years that followed that conflict. We have walked through some of the battle fields where more men died fighting in a civil war for the unification of their country and to settle the question of slavery than in all the wars of their nation combined to this day.

America is not like her older brothers and sisters around the world. The historical timeline of the key events in her formation is definitive. These events are not shrouded in the mists and legends of time as they would be in many European and Asian nations. They are both momentous and recent enough to still be taught to her citizens in school, to still be commemorated on the plaques and monuments of the cities and towns, to still be celebrated and revered in museums and historical places, and to still evoke at the very least, gratitude for the cost of freedom.

It has been an honor and a challenge for us to learn about the level of personal sacrifice that so many endured to secure the freedom we enjoy today. It has been an honor in the sense that there are few of our contemporaries who have the opportunity that we have been given to stand in these historic places. It has been a challenge in the sense that standing in the presence of great people should prompt us to look within. Pride in America's past will be of no value in the years to come if this generation and those that follow cannot preserve, expand, and strive to perfect the experiment begun by those men of vision many years ago.

Tim Smith