With all the news of yet another assassination in Beirut, the blogosphere seems to have overlooked that today, November 22, 2006, is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was 43 years old when he was elected President in 1960. Rather than recall his death, I would prefer to take this opportunity to recall what I think is really the most important phrase from his Inaugural address, a statement that is far more deserving of an eternal inscription in our hearts, than the usually quoted peroration. Let us forever remember these words:
And let us also remember:Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
Those words are as true now as they were then. They should guide us now, as perhaps they did not fully guide us, then. (The entire speech is worth reading and hearing. You can find it here. )
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