t.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble
gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off
deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today,
just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the
ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty,
but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find
meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment --
a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit
that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith
and determination of the American people upon which this nation
relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break,
the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a
friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the
firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a
parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may
be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and
honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and
patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have
been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is
demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is
a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every
American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world,
duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in
the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so
defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on
us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women
and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration
across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty
years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand
before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we
have traveled. In the year of America's bir