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<strong>Siouxland</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | Grow / 39<br />
The Gift of the Power to Choose<br />
By Todd Rausch<br />
In the past few months the SBDC celebrated<br />
National Small Business Week, Armed Forces<br />
Day and Memorial Day. The SBDC celebrates small<br />
businesses who are the backbone of the local economy.<br />
Armed Forces Day is a day to honor the volunteers who<br />
currently serve. Memorial Day is traditionally a day to<br />
honor those who have fallen while serving.<br />
As Americans, we have been given the gift of so many<br />
freedoms. Perhaps the greatest of these is the power<br />
to choose. We as free people can choose to be and do<br />
whatever we want in this, the greatest country on earth.<br />
In America, it doesn’t matter your race, your gender,<br />
your creed, your religion; here you have a right to make<br />
choices. Here, you are free.<br />
I made my choice to serve in 1981. Others made their<br />
choice in the years before and since. I never regretted<br />
choosing to serve and the vast majority of Veterans have<br />
not either. We are not all heroes. Most of us just want to<br />
be considered for what we are; men and women who<br />
valued the freedoms of our country and thought it was<br />
worth defending.<br />
Veteran owned business owners are starting to let people<br />
know that their businesses are operated by Veterans. This<br />
is not to get sympathy or customers out of gratitude, it’s<br />
to let everyone know we are proud Americans who have<br />
done our duty and we continue to choose to volunteer to<br />
make our community a better place.<br />
If you see a Veteran owned business or know a Veteran<br />
who owns a business; please consider supporting them.<br />
Not for what they have done, but for who they are; men and<br />
women who value freedom, free enterprise and America.<br />
Everyone uses their power to choose every day. I pray that<br />
we all choose to do good every day. I also pray that you,<br />
the reader, would use your power to choose to support<br />
your local Veteran owned businesses.<br />
God bless each of you and a special thanks to all who have<br />
served to keep our nation free.<br />
Contact:<br />
Todd Rausch, Regional Director<br />
todd.rausch@witcc.edu<br />
712-274-6454<br />
Todd Raush is the Regional Director of America’s SBDC Iowa at<br />
Western Iowa Tech Community College.
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