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America--at our best--speaks with this very same voice, the voice of win-win-win. During the time of great shared sacrifice that was World War II, Judge Learned Hand had the honor of addressing many thousands of Americans--including a large number of new citizens--at an I Am an American Day ceremony in Central Park. His words that day reflect the Golden Rule, the voice of win-win-win:
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.
I am most grateful this Thanksgiving for the spirit of liberty for it is the wellspring for all that is good in America. It is America's spiritual foundation--it honors freedom, it engenders cooperation and it reflects, not only America's 400 years of shared sacrifice, but the shared sacrifices of freedom-seeking people throughout perhaps 2 million years of human history.
Back to fundamentals. It is the spirit of liberty that can reenergize America and unleash American imagination, innovation and productivity. It is the spirit of liberty that can turn win-lose and lose-lose into win-win-win. It is the spirit of liberty that can make 1 + 1 again equal 3. It is the spirit of liberty that can lead us to that shining city on the hill.
May this be a joyful Thanksgiving for you and your loved ones. And may it signal a renewed commitment in us all to manifest the spirit of liberty in everything we do.
Let freedom ring.
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