My fellow
Americans, whom I have gratefully served for sixty years, and especially
my fellow Arizonans,
Thank you
for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service
in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to
serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love
for America will be weighed favorably against them.
I have
often observed that I am the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way
even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I have loved my life, all
of it. I have had experiences, adventures and friendships enough for ten
satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have
regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times,
for the best day of anyone else’s.
I owe
that satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more
loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe
it to America. To be connected to America’s causes -- liberty, equal
justice, respect for the dignity of all people -- brings happiness more
sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of
worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger
than ourselves.
"Fellow
Americans" -- that association has meant more to me than any other. I
lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest
republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are
a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home
and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and
poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and
power in the process.
We weaken
our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that
have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the
globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them
down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to
be the great force for change they have always been.
We are
three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous
individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other
in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in
common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that
and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our
country we will get through these challenging times. We will come
through them stronger than before. We always do.
Ten years
ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for
president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in
Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.
I feel it
powerfully still.
Do not
despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise
and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans
never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make
history.
Farewell,
fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America.
(Source: AR- Shared by WWW.EJ-CAFE.COM)
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