Today we meet to sanctify a process that has not only led me to this hour but has led us all to an appointment with certainty. The certain and lingering knowledge that we as Americans can accomplish things that cynics label impossible. Throughout our history each generation has heard the call of responsibility and it has been up to its leaders to endow in their people the will and the strength to meet the rigors of this responsibility. At this moment, in this uncertain time, I call upon Americans of all political persuasions to answer this call. To say this will be easy; To say that this will be devoid of risk; To say that this will be without sacrifice would betray the very call we all feel. There are some who say in strident tones that our country's best days lay behind us. To them I say, the dream of America that has guided us through the storms of war; depression and civil strife is very much alive. It is beating still in the heart of our history and in the soul of our present and in the everlasting promise of our future. Like a seed waiting for the coming of a righteous spring it awaits our tending of the garden. Let us nurture the seed. Let us pour upon it from the mighty stream of freedom the nourishment of a hope forged in the cold crossing of the Delaware; of the blood soaked fields of Gettysburg; of the storming of the Normandy Beaches; of the overcoming of the ramparts at the Selma bridge; of the love we all have, we must have for this precious country. And let it draw strength for the trials we all must endure as we walk this uncertain road of life.
Once a crippled man led a crippled nation and asked us not to fear. His words linger in the air we breathe in today within this capitol hill. We have seen the worst the world can bring into us. We watched towers fall. Yet as those noble buildings sank with a speed unbelievable into the bedrock of our greatest city we also knew that the souls within them were ascending into a giving and prideful God. Let us ascend like our brethren. The time for doubt is over. The darkness, though still outside our gates, is not our enemy unless we welcome it into our hearts. Government of the people endures.
Let the world note that America is a friend. Our power will be used wisely. But to those who wish us harm be warned that our resolve is omnipotent and that we shall never shrink from the defense of our institutions; our people; and our sacred honor. In this time of rapid change and in our deep desire for change let us never forget that change must be earned. It must be based on what has gone before. These things we know in our collective memory. These things we will always know. It is just that in times of trouble the memory becomes clouded by the darkness we all must put asunder.
The words said today may or may not linger in the telling of our story. That is of little importance. What is important is that the calling we feel be acted upon. That our country, filled as it is with the burdens of the living, will never walk among the ghosts of the vanquished.
The bible teaches us that those who trouble their own house shall inherit the wind. Let us rather inherit the house our ancestors gave their all to build for us. And let us all give, into those who come after us from that house, many mansions. The sense of purpose in that endeavor will be the font of our strength. And from that national will will arise yet another chapter written by a strong and compassionate hand that will reveal to all who seek its guidance a path that might be on the edge of but shall always lead away from the wilderness.
Listen to the Days I Knew Podcast Episode One
Listen to the Days I Knew Podcast Episode One
