White Rose, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

A white rose is a potent symbol. A symbol of what? Perhaps of love, purity, and chastity. But historically the white rose has often been used as a political symbol: in 15th century England during the War of the Roses by Yorkist partisans opposed to the House of Lancaster, and a little more recently, as the name taken by a group of courageous German students who actively resisted the Nazis in 1942-1943.

The White Rose students were beheaded after being tortured by the Gestapo. Despite their terrible fate, they—and the pure white rose itself—should remind us to stand up for liberty and be counted against tyranny, under whatever guise it appears. If I had been living in Nazi Germany, I wish that I had the courage of the White Rose, and I pledge to do my part to stop my country from descending into fascism.