The issue of war is not new to us. Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg address, while paying tribute to the fallen, recognized the difficulties and future issues attendant to war. And so it is even today, that each of us must do his or her part in setting the course of our nation. In his 1961 inaugural address, John Kennedy stressed the necessity of having allies: “To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do…” Yet today we stand virtually alone.
One wonders what we’ll see at the next “dawn’s early light.” What kind of world are we leaving for our children? Is there no national purpose we can have that will improve our world? JFK spoke of this in 1961 when he said, “Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths…”
I greatly fear the direction this country has taken, but like Martin Luther King in 1963 and Barack Obama in 2004, I too have a dream that one day our children and grandchildren will be free of terrorism and staggering debt. We should only go to war because we have to, not because we want to. Since it’s what I can do for my country to make that dream come true in a much better way, I’m going to vote for John Kerry and John Edwards and I hope you will, too. We desperately need their leadership. As Sen. Kerry said in his convention acceptance speech, “The future does not belong to fear, it belongs to freedom.”
Ray Gould
Edmonds
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