As our country has again been placed on a heightened state of alert, we continue to come together as a people. "United We Stand" can be heard or seen every time a television is turned on. Even locally, PennDot signs adorn College and Beaver Avenues reading "Proud to be an American" and "God Bless America." There is a common thread that has become evident and seems to run deep through our country. It is a thread of unity; a wanting to keep the United States a strong and solitary nation.

It is this commonality among the people that has held our country together for over two hundred years. Nearly 150 years ago, the Union suffered thousands of casualties as a result of the soldiers entering into the Civil War, in a fight to keep the United States together. Their efforts were not in vain, as we still remain a united people today.

And it is now, all this time later, which we have come together strongly, as a people, to defend what our forefathers fought so diligently to build for us.

As we continue to fight for our freedom as a country, let us hope that the thread that holds us together now continues to strengthen over time and the long tradition of national unity that has been established will continue so those generations years from now can experience what it means to be an American.