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[Page H2834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING VAISAKHI
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Harder of California). The Chair
recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the Sikh community in
celebrating Vaisakhi.
On April 14, Sikhs around the world, including thousands and
thousands in California's San Joaquin Valley, will celebrate the
Vaisakhi festival. This week, we welcome members of the Congressional
Sikh Caucus to the Hill to participate in those celebrations.
The festival marks the new year and the beginning of the spring
season for the global Sikh community.
The date of the Vaisakhi festival has tremendous significance in
Sikhism. The festival commemorates the year 1699, when Sikhism emerged
as a collective faith in what is now modern-day India.
It also celebrates both the birthday of the 10th Sikh guru, Guru
Gobind Singh, and the foundation of the Khalsa Panth, the Sikh
brotherhood.
Sikhs across the globe celebrate this day with enthusiasm and joy. I
know they do in the rich San Joaquin Valley that is home to so many who
are farmers, businesspeople, and community leaders. I have the honor to
represent them and to celebrate with them.
This festival models what all cultures strive for: strong communities
coming together to celebrate progress, renew its dedication to helping
one another, and peace.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please join me in celebrating
this special tradition in the Sikh community.
Women Trailblazers
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, every March, we come together to honor
trailblazing women who have come before us, who have made a difference
throughout the history of our country and throughout the world, and
those who continue to pave the way for the next generation, those who
have broken the glass ceiling, and those who are role models.
{time} 1030
The unsung heroines of these courageous pioneering women continue to
always make a difference.
The role model for me, and one who I must say made the incredible
difference, was our mother, Lena Cordoza Costa, a daughter of
immigrants, born before the Depression, raised during it, having to
quit school as a freshman in high school to help raise her seven
siblings because her father had been injured in an agricultural
accident.
She went on with our father to be--as Tom Brokaw noted--perhaps
America's greatest generation, striving with the values of hard work,
of teaching us to treat others as we would want to be treated
ourselves, and values of common sense.
As a young boy, learning that, Jim, you know, the truth is the truth,
and that you should always never forget those who are less fortunate.
After our father passed away, my mother in her mid-70s quietly
decided to go back to school and to get her GED. She didn't need to.
She was a successful business person; she was an artist, a voracious
reader, and a competitive bridge player.
And when she got her GED, she told my sister and me. We said, Mom,
why didn't you tell us?
She says, Well, I wasn't sure I would do well.
Our mother did--everything that she did, she did well, and continued
to serve as a role model.
Later on, the high school in which she had to quit as a freshman, at
a 100th anniversary of that high school, asked her to come--with
myself--and they presented her her high school diploma.
She was so proud of that high school diploma. And today, it sits on
my desk. And I show students that you can be whatever you want to be if
you have the proper role model and encouragement.
It is women who are guiding our Nation towards a more equal future--
like our mother--who make a difference.
Today, I am proud to be a Member of the most diverse Congress in the
United States' history, with over 102 women in this body, women serving
the people's House.
We honor their sacrifice, their brilliance, and the strength of their
service for our Nation.
____________________
