America, let’s roll.
President of the United States: Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind.
Mankind — that word should have new meaning for all of us today.
We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore.
We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps its fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution — but from annihilation.
We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist.
And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice:
“We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We’re going to live on!
We’re going to survive!”
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!
President of the United States: “Get off my plane.”
Ben Franklin: “Now I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, not setting sun.”
There is much that needs to be done
And even more that we can do.
We may fail; we have no guarantee of success
But a destiny awaits that only We the People can fulfill.
For as this vibrant ball of blue sails the celestial void,
We stand on the shoulders of the giants of the past.
Their strength supports us.
Their vision guides us.
Their example inspires us.
Freedom’s torch has been passed anew
Testing whether any people so conceived and so dedicated
can long endure the terrible terrors that threaten our time.
We face this challenge to our future
Not in fear but with faith
Not in doubt but with determination
Not in confusion but with confidence
The light of liberty shines brightly,
A beacon of hope to those who cling fast to its ways.
The light of liberty shines brightly,
As last best hope of earth continues on its rendezvous with destiny.
The light of liberty shines brightly,
As the multitudes who have become one in liberty boldly go forth to build a better tomorrow.
The light of liberty shines brightly,
A ray of death to doers of evil who seek to validate their passport to paradise through the massacre of the innocent.
When the document that defines us is amended so more may participate, the journey continues.
Be the Dream!
When the opportunities for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are strengthened, the journey continues.
Be the Dream!
When we remember that the eyes of the world are upon a city on a hill, the journey continues.
Be the Dream!
When a person becomes an American by Choice, the journey continues.
Be the Dream!
In the millennia to come, when the sun still rises on the glory of America,
When people note this time, this place, and this generation,
When the rebirth of Ground Zero has become a pilgrimage point for the planet,
People will say with quiet dignity and solemn pride as we have in the past and do in the present about those who met the challenges of their times, that
we saw wrong and tried to right it,
we saw suffering and tried to heal it,
we saw war and tried to end the need for it,
That we did not waiver, we did not tire, we did not falter, we did not fail, and
That government of the people, by the people and for the people did not perish from the earth.
That is my prayer for America.
Sully on the Hudson (Courtesy of Values.Com)
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Amen
