Reply #29: Not the first time he has been there [View All]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11713087/


• March 17, 2006 | 5:05 p.m. ET

Spring Break with John Edwards (Eric Martin, Hardblogger College All-Star)

As John Edwards spoke at dusk Wednesday to a group of about 600 students gathered in an outdoor hotel courtyard in downtown New Orleans, even the setting sun could not dim his obvious pride at the hope and determination on our faces. With a bounce in his step, Edwards thanked us for volunteering to spend Spring break clearing rotting debris from homes when we could have chosen instead to party all night and sleep all day in Cancun. He said our generation's sacrifice should set an example for all Americans.

Indeed, just one year ago the notion that thousands of college students would trade swim trunks and bikinis for construction helmets, gloves, goggles and sanitation suits would have been unthinkable. Then came Katrina. For students like me who will graduate college this Spring, the start of senior year in high school and college has been marked by 9/11 and the hurricane -- the greatest man-made and natural disasters in recent American experience.

Out of our feelings of helplessness and despair emerged a new youth consensus -- the belief that our generation can rebuild the world by our example of empathy and compassion. Edwards helped foment this energy during his university speaking tour this Fall. While I learned about this week's initiative through a friend's email, many students learned of the program from Edwards's personal appeals.

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