I was one of President Ronald Reagan’s advisors during his terms in the White House. President Reagan once observed, “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” It is in this spirit that I tell the following story, and invite you to please “Get Involved” in the work of The George Washington Center for Freedom and Understanding. I can tell you from personal experience that you will be richly rewarded.

Throughout history there have been defining moments when freedom loving people have united in its glorious cause. I was privileged to be part of a freedom delegation to Gdansk, and met one of these freedom patriots, one of these “Faces of Freedom” when Poland was still a Communist country.


Standing at the iron gates of the massive Lenin Shipyard in that city, I noticed a uniformed gate guard dressed in a weathered Navy pea coat. After furtively looking up and down the street, this stooped and aging Pole approached me.


When he was certain that the dreaded secret police were nowhere near, he reached into that worn coat and with weathered and gnarled hands pulled out a rolled up piece of obviously soiled cloth. As he began to unroll it I realized it was a badly stained red and white banner, the symbol of the Polish freedom fighters.


I inquired about the stains. With quiet and unexpected tenderness he explained that he had been on duty when the workers rebelled against tyranny and demanded freedom at those very shipyard gates. The communist government responded with typical force.


Army tanks lined up facing the weaponless workers and then crushed these courageous lovers of freedom as they stood their ground and held firm to their hopes. The stains on that banner were the bloodstains of those who sacrificed their all for freedom – as the gate guard said to me, “freedom like you Americans have.” Their solidarity movement, their hopes and dreams of freedom, thankfully, did not die.


Since then, new democracies have emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union and recently in other parts of the world. In most cases, the people in these countries have been given freedom without the knowledge and experience they need to preserve their newly gained liberties. At the same time, long established democracies are rapidly surrendering their blood earned freedoms because of this same ignorance compounded by indifference. They have failed to keep alive in the hearts of their people that glorious, burning love and desire for freedom I found in that aged guard at the iron gates of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.


The world desperately needs more "Faces of Freedom” like his; men and women who will join together in solidarity to preserve and advance the great cause of freedom. There has never been a more crucial time for this work. The world has never been so connected and at such great political peril.


Like freedom’s patriots before us, we cannot stand idly by. We must unite in helping all humanity understand and experience Individual Responsibility, Informed Citizenship, Global Democracy, Mutual Respect, and Economic Opportunity. Only through these fundamental values can we shore up our established democracies, fortify those that are newly emerged, and defeat tyranny and oppression wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.


There is so much we can and need to do to cultivate this love of freedom in peoples’ hearts and lives of people and in their business, political and religious communities. I invite you to join The George Washington Center for Freedom & Understanding as it champions these fundamental principles of freedom throughout the world.


We at The George Washington Center for Freedom & Understanding are raising the standard of Liberty. We would be honored if you would join us as we reaffirm the classic optimism that has been characteristic of free people everywhere; an optimism that is the hallmark of America.


Join the throng of citizen patriots throughout the ages who have done extraordinary things because they believed in themselves, and were free to do so; dedicate some of your time and resources to a cause that is greater than any one of us. You too can play a part in cultivating a love for freedom in the hearts and lives of people everywhere, of building a framework of understanding upon which all of us can construct a new and productive dialogue, and a bright and constructive future.