Why We Should Honor John McCain's Final Message
While I was saddened by Senator McCain's death, which we might have expected, but still hoped that somehow he might beat this dreaded cancer, I was more encouraged, enlightened and deeply moved by the message that he drafted as he came to the end of this life. You may have heard them spoken aloud by his friend, Rick Davis, but I found that reading them (and more than once) had a profound affect on me. So take a moment to read (re-read) the below:
"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 elect,ion 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"
This final statement, obviously well thought out, moves me each time I read it. It reminds me that we all make mistakes and have regrets, but we CAN move past that and onto something better; something good. In particular, this words focus me: "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." (I have emphasized the phrases that I felt were most important.)
If we, as a people; as a nation, want to honor John McCain (not the Senator, but the man), we need not erect statues or rename boulevards. What we should do, what we NEED to do is to take his words to heart and to follow through. We DO have more in common than we often care to admit. We need to work to find that common ground. We need to cease yelling and name calling and pause. We need to listen. We need to RESPECT.
If we can do that...if we can even just try, then we honor John McCain. We have the ability to be the country that he saw us to be. And that is a nation that we can all be proud of; a country that IS blessed not only by God, but by humankind.
This final statement, obviously well thought out, moves me each time I read it. It reminds me that we all make mistakes and have regrets, but we CAN move past that and onto something better; something good. In particular, this words focus me: "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." (I have emphasized the phrases that I felt were most important.)
If we, as a people; as a nation, want to honor John McCain (not the Senator, but the man), we need not erect statues or rename boulevards. What we should do, what we NEED to do is to take his words to heart and to follow through. We DO have more in common than we often care to admit. We need to work to find that common ground. We need to cease yelling and name calling and pause. We need to listen. We need to RESPECT.
If we can do that...if we can even just try, then we honor John McCain. We have the ability to be the country that he saw us to be. And that is a nation that we can all be proud of; a country that IS blessed not only by God, but by humankind.
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