Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call
to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment.
We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments. And
we find that children and community are the commitments that set us free.
Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and
family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency
which give direction to our freedom.
Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint
of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with
great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.
I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions
with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for
greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live
it as well.
In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care
of our times.
What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you
to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against
easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask
you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible
citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.
Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe
in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit
of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this
spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman
John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: "We know the race is not to the swift
nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind
and directs this storm?"
Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration.
The years and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know:
our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.
We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his
purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled
in service to one another.
Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose
today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity
of our lives and every life.
This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in
the whirlwind and directs this storm.
God bless you all, and God bless America.
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