You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading "the land of the free" in history books. They get to be men and forget even more. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't. I can and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.
I've been over every single foot of it. You have to see it yourself. I don't know. The prairies, and wind leaning on the tall lazy grass streams down in the meadows angry little midgets of water up in the mountains. Cattle moving down the slope, against the sun. Campfires and snowdrifts. Everybody ought to have some of that, sometime in his life. My dad had the right idea. He had it all worked out. He used to say to me, “Son Because don't miss the wonders that surround you. every tree, every rock, every anthill, every star is filled with the wonders of nature." He used to say to me "Did you ever notice how grateful you are to see daylight after coming through a long, dark tunnel?" "Well," he'd say, "always try to see life around you as if you just came out of a tunnel."
I see. When you get home, what will you tell those kids? I don't think they'll believe you. They're liable to look up at you with hurt faces and say "Jeff, what did you do? Quit? Didn't you do something about it?" Your friend Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man who tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against them didn't stop them, they were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that. You know that. You can't quit now. Not you. They aren't all Taylors and Paines in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows , that's all. You didn't just have faith in Paine, or any other living man. You had faith in something bigger. You had plain, decent, everyday common rightness and this country could use some of that.So could the whole cockeyed world. A lot of it. Remember the first day you got here? Remember what you said about Mr. Lincoln? That he was waiting for someone to come along? You were right. He was waiting for a man who could see his job and sail into it. Who could tear into the Taylors and root them out into the open. I think he was waiting for you. He knows you can do it. So do l.
Just get up off the ground. That's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's on top of this Capitol dome. That lady that stands for liberty. Look at this country through her eyes if you want to see something. But you won 't just see scenery. You'll see the whole parade of what man's carved out for himself after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law. Fighting so he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent like he was created. No matter what his race, color or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft or greed or lies or compromise with human liberties. If that's what the grownups have done with this world we better get those boys' camps started fast and see what the kids can do. It's not too late.Because this country is bigger than the Taylors or you or me or anything else! Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here! You just have to see them again.
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