A few words about the future

There are many words I could use to describe how I feel today: happy, overjoyed, nervous, or anxious. But I think one word sums it up best:

Proud.

I am proud today because this country that I love chose to make history. I am proud today because once again America has shown to the world that our nation still believes in the power of our founding promise: that all men are created equal. And I am proud today, because for the first time in a long time, we will have a president who understands the challenges that all mankind face; who understands the work ahead; who understands how the world suffers when our country falls short of its highest ideals.

Our role in the world is not a small one. And when we falter, the world falters also. When we starve the better angels of our nature, the world starves also. When we fail to reach those highest ideals of human freedom and intrinsic human value, then the world fails also. When we neglect the poor and the needy, we neglect the very thing that makes us human, and the world does also.

And when we respond to hate with hate and cast out those who might otherwise heed our call of freedom, and of Democracy, the world hates also.

The world is not without evil. It is not without its share of anger and violence directed at the innocent, at home or abroad. But the greatest danger lies within. When we let fear drive us to insanity; when we let fear drive us apart; when we let fear drive us to violence, the world does also. We cannot allow the blind acts of violent men to evoke responses that are equally blind.

Terror thrives on fear and violence. Terror thrives on confusion and disunity.

And so, when we succumb to our fear, we succumb to terror. When we succumb to violence, we help it thrive. And when we are lost and divided, the world is also, and it is terror that wins.

And most importantly, terror thrives on poverty and strife. It seeks to blame the condition of poor and huddled masses on the actions of those who seem to be turning a blind eye. And so, when we neglect those who need us most, the world does also – and it is terror that wins.

We cannot stop every violent plot. And sometimes, in our efforts to do so, we do more damage to ourselves than the enemy could ever do on their own. They can damage property. They can cause sorrow and the loss of life. But unless we succumb to the poisons they are pushing, they cannot take our way of life.

They cannot take our freedom, less we hand it to them. They cannot diminish our role in the world, less we assume another. They cannot make us a lesser country, less we destroy it ourselves.

And 76 days from today, we will have a new president, Barack Obama, who understands these things.

And so it is with great pride, hope and optimism that we should gather strength for the road ahead. For electing one man is not enough. It will take a great deal of sacrifice, courage, bravery, diligence and fearlessness from all of us to fight poverty and achieve lasting peace.

And this brings us to the next great word; a word that describes not the past or the present, but the future:

Determination.