HW: 30 Citizenship Symposium 2

The second Symposium session that I attended was on Thursday November 8th. The lecture was titled “Citizenship and Responsibility.” The speaker Tom Lantes was first introduced by his daughter Katrina. His daughter was more than happy to introduce her father, not only is he her father by he is her hero. Tom Lantes was a survivor of the Holocaust and came the United Sates after WWII. “America did not teach man the idea of freedom; she taught how to practice it.” This was a quote from the President of France, whom Tom has established a close relationship with. Lantes spoke very passionately about the United States and how much it means for him to be here; he has made a life for himself in our country even though he only arrived with nothing but 5 dollars in his pocket. He also spoke about the upcoming president and what he should bring to our country. First they must bring our country together domestically, and two they must rebuild the prestige, respect, and status for the United States internationally. He is very concerned with the image of our country and so passionate about his feelings towards our society and the changes that are hopefully soon to come. He questions why our reputation is so much less impressive then it was just a few years ago, and he also stated that people tend to forget about all the positive things the U.S. has done and only focus on the negative aspects of our government. Lantes is very influential and his speech was not only motivating but it made me think about our democracy in a deeper way then before