I met a very inspiring woman. Her name is Hildy Valenzuela Wendtland. As a teenage girl she lived in Communist Cuba. On April 1, 1980, a bus of hopeful asylum seekers crashed into the Peruvian embassy in Havana, Cuba. Within two days, 10,800 people occupied every inch of 28,000 square foot embassy. They all wanted to escape communism. Imagine their desperation.
Hildy spoke of her ordeal and the importance of letting the world know that freedom is not free and should never be taken for granted. She was so compelled to share that message and her story that she wrote a book - "Barefoot to Freedom." I just got the book and have not read it yet, but I am going to.
What did resonate with me was her passion to tell her story. Once she published her book, one of her own children came to her with his book highlighted and underlined. "Mom, did this really happen?" Although Hildy had told her son many times about the details of her ordeal, it really hit home when he read it. There is an enormous power to the written word. Parents can tell their children hundreds and hundreds of times about something, and it can go in one ear and out the other. But, when that same information is written down, it takes on a new power. Strangely enough, it becomes even more real.
Hildy was also compelled to write her stories because with a book, her story can be shared with thousands and shared beyond her own time on earth. It was very inspiring to be reminded of the precious value of our American freedoms that are too often taken for granted.
Thank you, Hildy, for telling your stories and reminding us of things we should never, ever forget.
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