Before I commence my more formal – though hopefully not more dull remarks – if I may, for a moment, note the distinguished company amidst which this Shanty Irish-Catholic finds himself; offer my personal regards to all of the assembled dignitaries; and, if I ever want to get another bill passed, I must express my personal debt to the distinguished Chairman of the House International Relations Committee and a distinguished son of Illinois, the Honorable Henry Hyde, a Congressional champion of Croatia.
In fact, Chairman Hyde’s name piques in my febrile psyche one his legendary stories, which, on any rightfully rare occasion I address such an august gathering, flashes through my benighted mind:
When once asked to reflect upon his distinguished life-time of service to our country and the cause of human freedom, Chairman Hyde replied: “As young man entering a room, I wanted to change the world; now, as a more seasoned man entering a room, I just want to get out with some dignity.”
I assure you, Chairman Hyde, has always accomplished both goals and always will. On my part, in all candor, I just hope to escape unscathed with my parking ticket validated.
It is the duty and the honor of every child of the American revolution to stand as one bestride his fellow human beings abroad who have broken oppression’s yoke and are, finally, rightfully, standing free; thus, I extend my deepest gratitude for the privilege of joining you tonight to acclaim and affirm Croatia’s placement amongst the pantheon of free peoples; and to proclaim and reaffirm America’s abiding commitment to the sustenance and expansion of democracy throughout our world..
My friends, we know this is a promise as noble as it is formidable, for democracy’s road is sown with sacrifice. Indeed, does not history inform and instruct us how, strewn with innumerable and unconscionable incidents of human suffering, Croatia’s has been a tortuous path to independence and democracy? Yes, it does, for as the poet Mario Susko agonizingly attests in “Beyond”:
Eternity is God’s oblivion, you said,
a faint smile crossing your lips.
That’s why we are left with history,
not to forget what we cannot be…
The following morning, you left the city,
your face behind a fogged bus window
a featureless apparition, forcing me
to feel my chapped lips and blow you a kiss.
Today, the acidulous ashes of despair and displacement, and the heinous stench of death, have been scattered and supplanted by the breath of hope, for liberty reigns resplendent and benignant in a free and democratic Croatia. Yet, while we rightfully rejoice at the emergence of an independent and democratic Croatia, I myself, as an heir of the American experiment in democracy feted amidst the throaty cheers and (let us charitably estimate it as “a few”) heady toasts, am compelled to issue a clarion caution best etched in the minds and hearts of every democrat of any age:
The birth of a democracy is not an end, but a beginning. For a democracy is an experiment which through neglect and conceit will falter, fail, and fall into the abyss of anarchism and despotism, or, through the grace of God and the perpetual vigilance of its dutiful practitioners, will persist and proclaim to all throughout the ages a living testament to that nation’s acceptance and accordance of the inherent sanctity and inviolability of humanity and its self-evident rights. Critically, too, let us acknowledge a democracy is never more imperiled than in its infancy.
Yet, because every democracy must face this, their sacred challenge, no democracy must stand alone in fulfilling this, their sacred challenge. Which is why the United States – the beacon of liberty for all the world – must continue to kindle and cradle the flame of freedom within the bosom of every fledgling democracy throughout our world. In consequence, the United States must remain an indispensable partner in the perpetuation and promotion of free Croatia’s purposeful and prosperous experiment in democracy. America, the world’s oldest democratic republic, must meet its moral duty to nurture this new democracy by strengthening U.S. assistance to Croatia in the humanitarian realm through further facilitating refugee returns, land mine retrievals, and cultural and parliamentary exchanges; in the economic realm through further fostering import and export opportunities and enhancing and, prospectively, extending the Southeastern European Economic Development Program; and, in the security realm through supporting a 2006 invitation for Croatia’s integration into N.A.T.O.
This is not, of course, an exhaustive enumeration of the reciprocally constructive engagements between Croatia and America; but it is, hopefully, a fairly representational vignette revealing the rich mosaic which is the Croatian and American alliance – an alliance in which Americans and Croatians are united by political, economic, and security interactions; and, in which, and more deeply, Croatians and Americans stand woven as one within the seamless fabric of human freedom.
Thus, in closing, I truly thank you, the Croatian American Association, for all your efforts in maintaining this rich relationship between two free nations; and I assure you, I and others in the United States Congress will continue to as vigilantly and diligently foster this relationship as, doubtlessly, the Croatian people will continue to vigilantly and diligently defend and extend their burgeoning democracy. True, true (for as friends we must ever be true), like Borben Vladovic, we know the road before us will not always prove smooth:
We have started from a shadow place
towards the sawed smell of fresh boards
on the old road to the sea.
From the lower cloud of dust
holding our glowing heads high
we were watching the upper new highway
and on its black skin the unstoppable
little houses of anxiety were gliding
that were too distant
for the freshness of the tender sea waves.
The journey continued with a frequent
clicking of the ballpoint pen
and the lonely zealous cricket
on the old road to the sea
we were waiting for a view at the end of our journey.
The view began with shabby cabins
on the unkempt city beach
and on the seafront boards were stacked for some future
boats drawn and written
in my notebook jumping
on my restless knee
that detects every pebble and slant
on the old road to the sea.
My friends, let us part tonight united in the conviction that - whatever the tentative hand of history records of our ephemeral steps upon democracy’s arduous road to the beauteous future - we will walk our path together and, together, we will be free.
Thank you.