Governor Mitt Romney and Freedoms

I saw the character of our people when I ran the Olympics in Salt Lake City. I asked speed skater Derek Parra what had been his most memorable Olympic experience.

It was not winning the silver medal. It was not winning the gold medal.

It was carrying the tattered flag that had flown above the World Trade Center on September 11th into the opening ceremonies.

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We had expected cheers from the 60,000-person audience as the flag entered the stadium.

Instead, total silence, complete reverence. Derek maintained his composure as the national anthem was sung.

But then the choir surprised him by singing a reprise of the last line: "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, oe'r the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

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And then, a gust of wind lifted the flag in his hands.

Derek said, it was as if it came from the countless men and women who had paid the price for America's freedoms, a breath from above that stirred the hearts of those of us below who will always remember them.