President Bush Delivers Commencement Address at Ohio State University
Remarks by the President at Ohio State University Commencement
Columbus, Ohio
10:17 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. I appreciate that very
warm welcome. President Kirwan, thank you for inviting me. Governor
Taft, Chairman Patterson, distinguished members of the Ohio State
faculty, trustees, family members, distinguished guests and, most
importantly, members of the mighty class of 2002. (Applause.)
Congratulations. You have earned a degree at a great American
institution, and you have every right to be proud. (Applause.)
I want to congratulate your parents. (Applause.) Many of you
have written your last tuition check. (Laughter.) That must be nice
-- I'm still writing them. (Laughter.) You've given so much
encouragement and support to your children, and their gratitude will
only increase over the years. I also commend Ohio State's fine
faculty, which has done so much to shape the minds and hopes of the
graduating class.
One more word of congratulations is in order. Today I had the
honor of meeting Coach Jim Tressel. (Applause.) Most polite of him to
share with me the really fine experience that the Buckeyes had up in
Ann Arbor this year. (Applause.)
And I appreciate so very much the honorary degree you're conferring
upon me today. I'm delighted that George Steinbrenner is receiving one
as well. I guess we're both being honored as legends of baseball --
(laughter) -- legends, at least, in our own minds. (Laughter.)
I am now the only person standing between you and your diploma.
The tradition of commencement addresses is to be brief -- and
forgotten. I assure you that this speech will be shorter than it
seems.
Your senior year was special in your life -- and the months since
last September have been extraordinary in our country's history. On a
Tuesday morning, America went from a feeling of security to one of
vulnerability, from peace to war, from a time of calm to a great and
noble cause. We are called to defend liberty against tyranny and
terror. We've answered that call. We will bring security to our
people and justice to our enemies. (Applause.)
In the last nine months, we've seen the true character of our
country. We learned of firefighters who wrote their Social Security
numbers on their arms with felt tip pens -- to mark and identify their
bodies -- and then rushed into burning buildings. We learned of the
desperate courage of passengers on Flight 93 -- average citizens who
led the first counter-attack in the war on terror. (Applause.) We
watched the searchers, month after month, fulfill their grim duty --
and New Yorkers line the streets to cheer them on their way to work
each morning. And in these events, we relearned something large and
important: the achievements that last and count in life come through
sacrifice and compassion and service.
Some believe this lesson in service is fading as distance grows
from the shock of September the 11th, that the good we have witnessed
is shallow and temporary.
Your generation will respond to these skeptics -- one way or
another. You will determine whether our new ethic of responsibility is
the break of a wave, or the rise of a tide. You will determine whether
we become a culture of selfishness and look inward -- or whether we
will embrace a culture of service and look outward. Because this
decision is in your hands, I'm confident of the outcome. Your class
and your generation understand the need for personal responsibility --
so you will make a culture of service a permanent part of American
life.
After all, nearly 70 percent of your class volunteers in some form
-- from Habitat for Humanity to Big Brothers and Big Sisters, to
OhioReads. Ohio State has been a leading source of Peace Corps
volunteers since 1961. (Applause.) I honor the 29 ROTC members in
today's graduating class for their spirit of service and idealism.
I hope each of you -- I hope each of you will help build this
culture of service, for three important reasons: service is important
to your neighbors; service is important to your character; and service
is important to your country. (Applause.)
First, your idealism is needed in America. In the shadow of our
nation's prosperity, too many children grow up without love and
guidance, too many women are abandoned and abused, too many men are
addicted and illiterate, and too many elderly Americans live in
loneliness.
These Americans are not strangers, they are fellow citizens; not
problems, but priorities. They are as much a part of the American
community as you and I, and they deserve better from this country.
(Applause.)
Government has essential responsibilities: fighting wars and
fighting crime; protecting the homeland and enforcing civil rights
laws; educating the young and providing for the old; giving people
tools to improve their own lives; helping the disabled and those in
need.
But you have responsibilities, as well. Some government needs --
some needs government cannot fulfill: the need for kindness, and for
understanding, and for love. A person in crisis often needs more than
a program or a check; he needs a friend -- and that friend can be you.
We are commanded by God and called by our conscience to love others as
we want to be loved ourselves. Let us answer that call with every day
we are given. (Applause.)
Second, service is important in your own life, in your own
character. No one can tell you how to live or what cause to serve.
But everyone needs some cause larger than his or her own profit.
Apathy has no adventures. Cynicism leaves no monuments. And a person
who is not responsible for others is a person who is truly alone.
By sharing the pain of a friend, or bearing the hopes of a child,
or defending the liberty of your fellow citizens, you will gain
satisfaction that cannot be gained in any other way. Service is not a
chain or a chore -- it gives direction to your gifts, and purpose to
your freedom.
Lyndsey Holben is an OSU sophomore majoring in business. When she
was in high school, Lyndsey had a friend and a classmate who died from
an illness -- and Lyndsey decided she wanted to work with children who
suffer from life-threatening diseases. Today, Lyndsey is a leader
among volunteers for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Here's what she had
to say: "It's hard enough to put a smile on someone's face, but
especially someone who is hurting. Even if that's all you can do, that
is something -- and there is no better feeling in the world." Lyndsey,
and others here today have learned that every life of service is a life
of significance.
Third, we serve others because we're Americans, and we want to do
something for the country we love. Our nation is the greatest force
for good in history -- and we show our gratitude by doing our duty.
(Applause.)
Patriotism is expressed by flying the flag, but it is more.
Patriotism means we share a single country. In all our diversity, each
of us has a bond with every other American. Patriotism is proven in
our concern for others -- a willingness to sacrifice for people we may
never have met or seen. Patriotism is our obligation to those who have
gone before us, to those who will follow us, and to those who have died
for us.
In March of this year, Army Ranger Marc Anderson died in
Afghanistan, trying to rescue a Navy SEAL. Marc and five others gave
their lives in fulfilling the Ranger creed: "I will never leave a
fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy."
Marc, from Westerville, Ohio, was a remarkable man. Instead of
pursuing a career that might have made him wealthy, Marc decided to be
a math teacher in a high school in a tough neighborhood. He was a
mentor, a tutor, and the best teacher many students ever had.
After September the 11th, Marc joined the fight against terrorism.
"I'm trained and I'm ready," he wrote to his friends. Before Marc
left for Afghanistan, he arranged for part of his life insurance to pay
for one of his former students to attend college. Today, that student
-- Jennifer Massing -- plans to go to the University of Florida to
study architecture.
Marc Anderson considered this country great enough to die for.
Surely it is great enough to live for. And we live for America by
serving others. (Applause.) And as we serve others, this challenge
can only be answered in individual hearts. Service in America is not a
matter of coercion; it is a matter of conscience. So today I'm making
an appeal to your conscience, for the sake of our country.
America needs more than taxpayers, spectators, and occasional
voters. America needs full-time citizens. (Applause.) America needs
men and women who respond to the call of duty, who stand up for the
weak, who speak up for their beliefs, who sacrifice for a greater
good. America needs your energy, and your leadership, and your
ambition. And through the gathering momentum of millions of acts of
kindness and decency, we will change America one soul at a time -- and
we will build a culture of service. (Applause.)
I have asked all Americans to commit at least two years -- 4,000
hours over a lifetime -- to the service of our neighbors and our
nation. My administration created what we call the USA Freedom Corps
to help Americans find service opportunities at home and abroad. We're
doubling the size of the Peace Corps. We'll increase AmeriCorps by 50
percent. We've created Citizen Corps to help protect the homeland.
And today I'm announcing an historic partnership. We are bringing
together the broadest group of service organizations ever assembled to
create the USA Freedom Corps Network. The USA Freedom Corps Network
includes America's Promise, the Points of Light Foundation, The United
Way, Volunteer Match, ServeNet and many other organizations; will be
the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever
assembled. This network will enable you to find volunteer
opportunities within your neighborhoods and communities, and in
countries around the globe.
One of the main reasons people give for not volunteering is that no
one has asked them to do so. Another reason, they don't know where to
start. Well, today I'm asking each of you to serve your country --
and, through the USA Freedom Corps Network, you've got a place to
start. (Applause.) All that remains is for you to answer the call to
service. I hope you do -- and I believe you will.
A life of service isn't always easy. It involves sacrifices, and I
understand many other things will lay claim to your time and to your
attention. In serving, however, you will give help and hope to
others. You will -- your own life will gain greater purpose and deeper
meaning. You will show your love and allegiance to the United States,
which remains what it has always been: the citadel of freedom, a land
of mercy, the last, best hope of man on Earth. (Applause.)
And so to the graduates of Ohio State University: Congratulations
on your achievement. I want to thank you for this honorary degree. I
leave here a proud member of the class of 2002. (Applause.) I leave
here confident that you will serve our country, and a cause greater
than self. May God bless you your families, and may God bless
America.