July 4, 2008: "Freed US hostages, families reuniting in Texas"

Freed US hostages, families reuniting in Texas

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas - Back on U.S. soil, three American hostages rescued from Colombia rebels are now in the process of reintegrating into a society they've been absent from for more than five years.

For once we see an article of hope. These three American hostages were among 13 other, including who is known for being the world's most famous hostage Ingrid Betancourt. After five and a half years of captivity the three American hostages were finally rescued from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Even though this is great news for America, this story saddens me. I did not know anything about these three men until their recent rescue. Why is this? Now of course the military must keep their doing private, but as the people we deserve to know.
Here is how I believe that we could have helped these 15 hostages. First of all, the military must have told some civilians. The families are least must have known and there was probably news stories printed at least in the towns of these men. Now, once we were notified, if we all expressed enough interest in the story, which we should because these are three of our very own, then soon press releases would be scheduled with military leaders. Naturally, the most attention the story get the more the military would force to resolve the issue. I believe we could have made a bigger difference in these 15 lives.

What if we did make a difference? Luckily these men and women survived five and a half years, what if they didn't? Would we still hear their story? Spread the story before its a tragedy.

Thank you ELIZABETH WHITE and Yahoo News.