After returning home from assignments in Europe earlier this month, President Thomas S. Monson was reminded of his boyhood when he noticed several American flags waving in his neighbors' yards commemorating Flag Day, he said.
President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was in third grade when he joined the Junior Red Cross. He said he joined after learning about the United States' responses "to stricken populations wherever such are to be found. My contribution was miniscule, but to me it represented all that I had," he said.President Monson shared this and other thoughts about patriotism Sunday night at America's Freedom Festival at Provo's 19th annual non-denominational patriotic service.
A 1,998-voice family choir of many religions, a NASA astronaut, the 560th Air Force Band from Spokane, Wash., and the winner of the festival's senior division speech contest also helped bring American pride to those in attendance at the BYU Marriott Center and to those watching by satellite and cable across North America.
Playing the bugle in the Grant Elementary School's drum and bugle corps was something President Monson said he wanted to do as child. But after spending two years in the band, he only got to hear others play.
"I simply loved marching and hearing the sound of those who could play while carrying the precious flag to the proper spot and lifting it to the top of the flagpole in reverent silence," he said.
President Monson referred to duty, honor and country throughout his address as being, "a guide for a boy; a code for a man."
In the words of Protestant minister Harry Emerson Fosdick, President Monson said, "Men will work hardest of all when they are dedicated to a cause. Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather that following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is done by one who would gladly do more if he could."
He also discussed "lost battalions" of today, including the handicapped, lame, sightless, the lonely and those who come from fractured families, and he addressed society's responsibility toward them. "Those who labor so willingly and give so generously to those who have lost so tragically find ample reward in the light which they bring into the lives of us many," President Monson said.
President Monson also quoted Adlai Stevenson, who said, "What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? A patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."
He told the story of a teenage boy, Jack, who had many serious arguments with his father, so Jack decided to leave home. But before Jack left that evening, his father apologized and told him he loved him.
"Here was a father who, suppressing passion and bridling pride, rescued his son before he became one of that vast `lost battalion.' . . . Love was the binding balm. Love, so often felt; so seldom expressed," he said.
Another example of patriotism President Monson shared was that of Smith Shumway who served in World War II and returned home blind. He raised eight children despite difficulties.
"His patriotism shines as clearly today as it did when he served in the Second World War, and he has taught his posterity to love and serve their country," he said.
Speech contest winner Megan Gelter, a senior at Mountain View High School in Orem, spoke about this year's festival theme, "Hope of America." Her speech was inspired by her love of history and wanting people to teach each other.
"You are the hope of America now," she told the audience. "You, the living, the knowledgeable, you hold the keys to the successes and the failures of the past, present and future because you know of the misery and you know the triumph, you know of the sacrifice and you know of the reward."
NASA astronaut Richard A. Searfoss, who has commanded the space shuttles Columbia and Atlantis, said this is a land of opportunity. In 1965, he saw a broadcast of one of the first space missions; at age 8, he decided he wanted to be an astronaut.
"The United States is truly a marvelous land of opportunity," he said. "One where the hopes and even impossible dreams of individuals can and do come to pass."
After viewing the planet Earth from a most unique position, Searfoss said America is a blessed land.
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God," said President Monson, quoting poet Mary Dow Brine. "That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way."