"I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
"That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
"I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."
These are powerful words from a gifted orator, delivered at a time when we need them most.
Compare these words to the self-aggrandizing comments from the Wasilla Wonder Woman, whose "blood libel" comment is drawing near-universal condemnation.
2 comments:
Between Boehner snubbing the President's offer and Palin's typically stupid statement, it's a toss up
In the religion section in today's paper is an article entitled "Words of hatred, words of grace: We must choose" written by Lauren R. Stanley, an Episcopal priest. In part she wrote these significant words:
... We spend an inordinate amount of time disparaging others and speaking words of violence ... We curse, we threaten, we denigrate, we abuse, we attack. We use words to hurt, to injure, to wound. Why? What purpose does it serve? It might make us feel better in that moment, but when we look at what we have wrought - an atmosphere of hatred - do we still feel better then? ...
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2011/01/12/1503779/words-of-hatred-words-of-grace.html#ixzz1AtMCTXhZ
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