My View: freedom's a byword for Fourth; hope's another

Talitha Arnolad | For The New Mexican

7/3/2008 - 7/3/08

The word "freedom" will resound a lot this week as our country celebrates the Fourth of July. Politicians and preachers alike will extol freedom as this country's greatest gift.

As a citizen and minister, I'm deeply grateful for that gift and for those who have sacrificed to preserve it. But I'm equally grateful for another gift this country gave me: The gift of hope.

And in my growing up, more often than not, it was our government that gave that gift of hope.

That may sound odd. "The government" seems to have become a bad word, conjuring up images of waste or restrictions on private freedoms. But to me and my family, the "government" meant programs and possibilities. It meant hope.

We needed all the hope we could find. My father had died, and my mother was raising four children on a teacher's salary. A strong woman with a strong work ethic and determination, she was also the first to acknowledge we wouldn't have made it without the help of government programs and the hope they offered.

Hope in the form of good public schools that offered music, art, science labs, and after-school programs, along with the solid basics.

Financial hope from Social Security for widows and subsidized mortgages for first-time homeowners.

Hope from the County Extension Service that sponsored 4-H youth programs, where I learned not only how to cook, sew, and hook up electrical projects, but also how to lead, organize events, and turn my dreams into realities.

Hope that came from public libraries, where you could discover the world, and also cool off if your family couldn't afford air conditioning for hot summer evenings.

Hope from summer Parks and Recreation programs, special science events at the state university, and other programs for children and youth, all funded by state and federal governments (and taxes).

Because of such programs, I had the hope that even someone from a family like mine could get a good education and make something of herself. The government continued to make good on that hope with low-interest loans and scholarships for college.

These hope-giving programs extended beyond my family. As a teenager, I was proud of government programs like Head Start and Vista volunteers that gave hope to people left behind because of race or poverty. And I was proud that our commitment to hope wasn't limited to our own country or to our military might, but was the foundation for programs like the Peace Corps and AID, or were such programs limited to my generation. Part of the government's job historically was to give people hope. As a child exploring National Parks, I was surrounded by the tangible signs of my government's commitment to creating possibilities for young people. You couldn't take a hike, cross a bridge or sit at a picnic table without being reminded of the Civilian Conservation Corps, started during the Great Depression. For thousands of young men who couldn't find work, the CCC provided jobs, training and three meals a day. As importantly, in that desperate time, this federal program gave them a sense of accomplishment and pride.

The government also challenged me to offer hope to others, through volunteer service and through my taxes that funded such programs.

As a result, I grew up believing that creating hope was part of what good governments did. I still believe that.

But I wonder if young people still do. When public-school programs are cut to the bone, libraries close, and parks fall into disrepair, what message of hope are we offering for this generation? When a family loses their home to foreclosure or goes bankrupt with no health insurance, where's the safety net my family had? Where are the hope-giving programs our country offered me and my generation?

This July 4th, I'm grateful for the freedom our country offers. But I'm even more grateful for the hope it gave. I want our country to do so again in the lives of young people today.

Talitha Arnold is senior minister of Santa Fe's United Church of Santa Fe.