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Communities of Light Radio Address 9/27/91 [OA 8329]
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Speech File Backup Files
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Communities of Light Radio Address 9/27/91 [OA 8329]
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26
21
6
4
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
91 SEP 26 P5: 04
September 26, 1991
MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAVID DEMAREST
TONY SNOW TS
FROM:
BETH HINCHLIFFE
BH
SUBJECT:
COMMUNITIES OF LIGHT RADIO ADDRESS
The attached five-minute script is for a radio address to be
released Saturday, September 28, in advance of your Monday
appearance at EPCOT Center. The address begins by looking ahead
to the Monday event saluting all 575 Points of Light. The
remarks also introduce your concept of "Communities of Light," "
explaining their vision and possibilities.
(Hinchliffe/simon)
September 26, 1991 4:30 p.m.
POLRADIO.TS Draft Three
PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS: COMMUNITIES OF LIGHT
Usually when I speak to the nation it's to announce a new
program, or discuss some pressing national policy. Well, today I
won't be talking about programs or policy -- but about a vision
for a better future.
Over the past two years, I've honored Americans who have
shown "the better angels of their nature" -- by volunteering to
help others. These individuals and groups realize that we build
a better America not by protesting or demand that others assume
responsibility for our problems. We build better futures by
taking on the problems we see in our own communities. These
people answered their own inner call for action. They illustrate
our land's genius and generosity -- a land where ordinary people
accomplish extraordinary things.
I call them "Points of Light" because they shine through the
dark times of want or despair. On Monday, the 575 Daily Points
Fracey
of Light will come to Orlando, Florida. Barbara and I will take
part in a national tribute in their honor. These people come
Taylor
from every state; range in age from 7 to 102; 103 and cover the
X6266
ONS
spectrum of faith, experience and background.
This group of individuals and organizations also forms an
inspiring portrait of our nation's potential. They address the
problems our nation fears most -- and they do because they want
to, or because they feel they must.
2
Some offer friendship and advice to troubled teens, befriend
the lonely, or simply hold drug-addicted babies. Others serve
meals to AIDS patients, build housing for the homeless, reclaim
crime-infested neighborhoods. Through the combined light
generated by these acts of consequence -- we can dissolve the
darkness; we can rekindle our own belief in ourselves.
Imagine all 575 living in one place. When you realize that
people like these live in your neighborhood -- some just waiting
for a chance to serve others -- then it's easy to picture such a
place. If every community in this land committed itself to
sacrifice and action in this work -- then each could become a
"Community of Light. "
In a Community of Light, people would discover the
fulfillment that comes with helping others.
In a Community of Light each school, business, place of wor-
ship, and group would lead its members toward the light of ser-
vice; as equal partners in solving social problems at their root.
In a Community of Light, people would use their ingenuity,
experience and passion to find solutions that work for their
neighborhoods, their communities.
In a Community of Light, everyone will be sought after for
their own gifts -- for each person has something to share. Walt
The
America Whitman celebrated this when he wrote: "I hear America singing
Reader Ravitch
Diane
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to no-one else."
by
It's odd, but in many communities around this country,
neighbors don't know one another. Huge apartment buildings teem
3
with strangers; city blocks teem with strangers; suburban
neighborhoods lie silent because people won't come to a front
door to say, "Hi. Welcome to the neighborhood."
We start building communities of light by creating
friendships and bonds where we live. When we treat neighbors as
friends, listen to their problems and concerns and talk about
ways of making things better -- then we establish the foundation
for a community of light.
No, volunteerism won't solve every problem. It won't fuel
our economy. It won't establish and protect the rule of law. It
won't supplant essential government services. But it will
provide the equally essential heart and soul our communities
deserve.
So, starting today, I call on every city, town and neighbor-
hood in our country to accept this great challenge to become a
"Community of Light." Then, together, we'll find a way to unite
this country not through our fears, but through our good works.
#
#
#
#
AMERICAN
READER
WORDS THAT MOVED A NATION
EDITED BY DIANE RAVITCH
The Mayflower Compact
Joseph Hopkinson, Hail, Columbia
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Self-Reliance
William Lloyd Garrison, Prospectus for The Liberator
Abraham Lincoln,
First Inaugural Address
Susan B. Anthony, Women's Right to Vote
Edwin Markham,
The Man with the Hoe
Vachel Lindsay, The Leaden-Eyed
Milton Ager and Jack Yellen,
Happy Days are Here Again
David Lilienthal, Confirmation Hearings
Pete Seeger, Where
Have All the Flowers Gone?
Ronald Reagan, Speech at Moscow State University
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack
Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address
On Top of Old Smoky
Theodore S. Wright, Prejudice Against the Colored Man
Harry
Macarthy, The Bonnie Blue Flag
The Ballad of John Henry
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The
Solitude of Self
G
Woodrow Wilson, War Message to Congress
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
Second Inaugural Address
Hubert Humphrey, A Plea for Civil Rights
Newton N. Minow,
Address to the Broadcasting Industry
Harvey Milk, A City of Neighborhoods
Abigail
Adams, Correspondence with John
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Old Ironsides
Emily
Dickinson, Success
Go Down Moses
Frederick Douglass, Speech to the American Anti-
Slavery Society
José de Diego, No
Ralph Chaplin, Solidarity Forever
Herbert Hoover,
The American System of Self-Government
Karl Shapiro, Elegy for a Dead Soldier
John
F. Kennedy, Speech at the Berlin Wall
Lorna Dee Cervantes, Refugee Ship
Theodore H.
White, The American Idea
Thomas Paine, Common Sense
George Perkins Morris,
Woodman, Spare That Tree
Stephen Foster, Old Folks at Home
John Brown, Last
Statement to the Court
Walt Whitman, o Captain! My Captain!
continued
with or even
through His appointed time, He now wills to
cease. Each
remove, and that He gives to both North and
a result less
South this terrible war as the woe due to those
th read the
by whom the offense came, shall we discern
od, and each
therein any departure from those divine attri-
It may seem
butes which the believers in a living God always
to ask a just
ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently
r bread from
do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may
t let us judge
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it con-
rayers of both
tinue until all the wealth piled by the bonds-
ither has been
man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited
His own pur-
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood
se of offenses;
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another
ome, but woe
drawn with the sword, as was said three thou-
ometh." If we
sand years ago, so still it must be said "the judg-
ery is one of
ments of the Lord are true and righteous
Jence of God,
altogether."
ing continued
With malice toward none, with charity for
all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work
we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle and
ner boys some-
for his widow and his orphan, to do all which
4 age ten; the
He Returns No More was painted by Paul Schnitzler
may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
in 1868. With 618,000 deaths, the Civil War had the
among ourselves and with all nations.
highest death toll of any war in American history.
WALT WHITMAN
I HEAR AMERICA SINGING and O CAPTAIN! MY
CAPTAINI
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born on Long Island, New York, and grew up In Brook-
lyn, New York. Printer, journalist, teacher, and government clerk, Whitman edited
several newspapers, Including the Brooklyn Dally Eagle.
Whitman first published Leaves of Grass, in 1855, at his own expense. Only about
nine hundred copies were printed, most of which he gave to friends. A slender volume,
consisting of twelve untitled poems and a preface, it initially attracted little attention.
In time, however, it influenced generations of American poets. Whitman's Innovative
free verse-without rhyme or meter-and his realistic Imagery and personal tone rep-
resented an abrupt departure from conventional poetry. Leaves of Grass was expanded
and revised periodically by Whitman throughout his life.
"I Hear America Singing" was published in 1860. "O Captaini My Captain!" was
written soon after Lincoln's assassination and was published in Whitman's Sequel to
Drum-Taps (1865-66).
THE CIVIL WAR
153
I Hear America Singing
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all
exulting,
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it
grim and daring;
should be blithe and strong,
But O heart! heart! heart!
The carpenter singing his as he measures his
the bleeding drops of red,
plank or beam,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for
Fallen cold and dead.
work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in
Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the
his boat, the deckhand singing on the
bells;
steamboat deck,
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench,
bugle trills,
the hatter singing as he stands,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his
you the shores a-crowding,
way in the morning, or at noon
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager
intermission or at sundown,
faces turning;
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the
Here Captain! dear father!
young wife at work, or of the girl sewing
This arm beneath your head!
or washing,
It is some dream that on the deck,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to
You've fallen cold and dead.
none else,
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale
The day what belongs to the day-at night the
and still,
party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no
Singing with open mouths their strong
pulse nor will,
melodious songs.
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage
closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with
object won;
Captain! My Captain!
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
But I with mournful tread,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
we sought is won,
Fallen cold and dead.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
SPEECH TO THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETY
Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.
With the assurance of a northern victory over the South, the fight against slavery
appeared to be won. Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitu-
tion, prohibiting slavery, on February 1, 1865, and within a week eight states ratified
the amendment. It was only a matter of months until it was adopted officially. But what
154
THE AMERICAN READER
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Embargoed for Release
Until 9:00 A.M. EDT
Saturday, September 28, 1991
RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
The White House
THE PRESIDENT: Usually when I speak to the nation it's
to announce a new program or discuss some pressing national policy.
Well, today I won't be talking about programs or policy, but about a
vision for a better future.
Over the past two years, I've honored Americans who have
shown the better angels of their nature by volunteering to help
others. These individuals and groups realize that we build a better
America not by protesting or demanding that others assume
responsibility for our problems; we build better futures by taking on
the problems we see in our own communities.
These people answered their own inner call for action.
They illustrate our land's genius and generosity, a land where
ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things. I call them "points
of light" because they shine through the dark times of want or
despair.
On Monday, the 575 Daily Points of Light will come to
Orlando, Florida. Barbara and I will take part in a national tribute
in their honor. And when America looks at these heroes, it should
see and cherish them first as individuals. They come from every
state, range in age from 7 to 103, and cover the spectrum of faith,
experience and background.
But we should also look upon them as a group that can
shine the light toward a better future. The 575 Points of Light form
and inspiring portrait of our nation's potential. They address the
problems our nation fears most. And they do because they want to, or
because they feel they must.
Some offer friendship and advice to troubled teens,
befriend the lonely, or simply hold drug-addicted babies. Others
serve meals to AIDS patients, build housing for the homeless, reclaim
crime-infested neighborhoods. Through the combined light generated
by these acts of consequence we can dissolve the darkness, we can
rekindle our own belief in ourselves.
Imagine if all 575 Points of Light lived in one place.
When you realize that people like these live in your neighborhood,
some just waiting for a chance to serve others, then it's easy to
picture such a place. If every community in this land committed
itself to sacrifice and action in this work, then each could become a
"community of light.
In a community of light, people would discover the
fulfillment that comes with helping others. In a community of light,
each school, business, place of worship, and group would lead its
members toward the light of service as equal partners in solving
social problems at their root. In a community of light, people would
use their ingenuity, experience, and passion to find solutions that
work for their neighborhoods, their communities. They would adapt
other people's successful programs in efforts to meet their needs, or
if necessary, they would craft their own.
MORE
- 2 -
In a community of light, everyone will be sought after
for their own gifts -- for each person has something to share.
Walt Whitman celebrated this when he wrote, "I hear
America singing; each singing what belongs to him or her and to no
one else." It's odd, but in many communities around this country
neighbors don't know one another. Huge apartment buildings teem with
strangers. City blocks teem with strangers. Suburban neighborhoods
lie silent because people won't come to a front-door to say, "Hi,
welcome to the neighborhood."
We start building communities of light by creating
friendships and bonds where we live. When we treat neighbors as
friends, listen to their problems and concerns, and talk about ways
of making things better, then we establish the foundation for a
community of light.
No, volunteerism won't solve every problem. It won't
fuel our economy. It won't establish and protect the rule of law.
It won't supplant essential government services. But it will provide
the equally-essential heart and soul our communities deserve.
So starting today, I call on every city, town and
neighborhood in our country to accept this great challenge to become
a community of light. And then, together, we'll find a way to unite
this country -- not through our fears, but through our good works.
END