remembering the velvet revolution

There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them.
-Vaclav Havel

it has been twenty years since massive demonstrations in the former czechloslavakia led to the fall of totalitarianism in that country. i am not sure that as americans we fully appreciate the courage and sacrifice of such oppressed people. the foundation of our country in the blood of the american revolution is lost on most of our citizens, who cannot even seem to place that war in the right century, let alone recall the actual dates. a country born in revolution should remember that such a revolution would not have been possible were it not for true patriots rising up to question the status quo. somewhere along the way, we as americans have removed ourselves from this line of thinking. under the bush administration it was all but treasonous to speak out against the policies of this government, especially the war in iraq. there is a stephen decatur quote that says,"my country, right or wrong, my country." i have always hated that quote. it has a lazy passive quality about it. my country, well if wrong, then let us fix it. i am not sure that americans have it in them to speak out against our government in defense of freedom. we could learn a lot from those average citizens that rose up against brutality to defiantly tell the communist government of the former czechloslovakia that they had already lost. many were beaten for their trouble. i am not a terrorist if i say the war in iraq is wrong. i am not less of a patriot if i say our country is on a wrong course. we, as americans need to find our voice. we must speak out. we must consult the example of history and learn the valuable lessons of events like the velvet revolution.