Shortly before he died. He had water wrote a moving essay in Life magazine, and I want to quote from him. He said long before I was struck with cancer. I felt something stirring in American society. It was a sense among the people of the country Republicans and Democrats alike that something was missing from their lives something crucial. I was trying to position the Republican party to take advantage of it, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was. My own has helped me to see that what was missing in society was what was missing in me a little heart a lot of Brotherhood. The 80s were about acquiring. He said acquiring wealth power and Prestige. I know I acquired he said more wealth power and Prestige than most but you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. It took a deadly illness to put me odd eye with that truth, but it is a true that the country caught up in its ruthless Ambitions and moral decay can learn on my dime. I don't know. He said who will lead us through the 90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society this tumor of the Soul. The 1990s struggle is for America's conscience and future many of the battles will not be as dramatic as get us verba Vietnam a Desert Storm, but they're going to shape our place in the 21st century world. No less. In this last decade of the last century of this Millennium every American must struggle to redefine success asking not how much can I get but how much can I do without and share asking not how can I find myself but more how can I lose myself in service to others asking not just how can I take care of me and mine but how can I help strengthen family and Community Values and help Minnesota and America regain their moral and economic bearings. I was taught that the world had a lot of problems that I can struggle and change them that black folk had an extra lot of problems. So we had an extra obligation to struggle and change them into those with intellectual and material gifts had both the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less fortunate. My parents and the Elders of my community made clear that service is the rent that each of us pays for living and they knew instinctively would walk a Percy wrote that you can get all A's and still flunk life. I was 14 the night. My daddy died. He had holes in his shoes, but he had two kids out of college and I know their parents here who have similar experiences yet another kid in college a kid and Divinity School and then me. And he was able to convey a vision to me even dying in an ambulance that I a black girl in the rural South could be and do anything that race and gender are shadows and that character sell discipline determination attitude and service or the substance of life. Today too many of our children are growing up without clear Visions from parents religious political business Community leaders. Our children are growing up often in an ethically polluted environment where instant sex without responsibility instant gratification without effort instant Solutions without sacrifice getting rather than giving and hoarding rather than sharing of the to frequent signals of our mass media popular culture business and political life the standard for success for too many Americans has become personal greed rather than common good the standard for striving and achievement has become getting by rather than making an extra effort or serving others truth-telling and moral example have become the valued Commodities and nowhere is the paralysis of public and private conscience more evident than in the neglect and abandonment of millions of our shrinking pool of children whose future It's will determine our nation's ability to compete and lead in the new era yet. Every eight seconds of every school day. One of our children drops out and these are not just poor and minority children. These are all of our children every 26 seconds one of our children runs away from home. Every 47 seconds in American child is abused or neglected every 67 seconds. One of our children has a child we produce the equivalent of a city of Seattle each year with children having children, every seven minutes in American child is arrested for a drug offense every 30 minutes. One of our children is arrested for drunken driving and every 36 minutes. One of our children is injured or killed by guns. And I am ashamed that I'm the richest man on Earth every 53 minutes one of our children dies from poverty. It is not my America that is 22nd rather than first and keeping our infants alive in the first year of life our children and families of all Races and incomes are an increasing Peril. And so I believe is America's future and we've got to redefine National Security to mean what it's real and that is strong children and strong families. It is a spiritually impoverished Nation. I believe that permits infants and children to be the poorest Americans over 12 million of them. It is a morally Lost Nation. I believe that is unwilling or unable to disarm our children and Those Who Kill our children in their school buses strollers yards and schools death stalks America's playgrounds and streets without a declaration of war or even a declaration of outrage concern by Our president Congress Governor State and local elected officials and citizens by the religious community every day a hundred and thirty-five thousand children bring a gun to school in response to a distant Tyrant. We sent hundreds of thousands of troops to the prayers and golf and Order according to Secretary of State Baker to protect our lifestyle and standard of living and the rights of the Kuwaiti people. No deficit or recession was allowed to stand in the way how then can we reconcile failing to engage equally the enemies of unemployment and poverty and declining wages and violence and family disintegration within our own Nation. When are we going to mobilize and send troops? When are we going to mobilize and send troops to fight for the stunt the lifestyle of the hundred thousand American children each night were homeless, but the standard of living of thousands of young families who have lost twenty four percent of their earnings capacity since 1973 and who are struggling to buy homes pay off college loans find and afford childcare, you know, we middle-class parents used to cry when you left home to go off to school and we love you very much, but I see many parents were crying now because you may never leave home because you can't afford a house. What are we really value As Americans and the president's budget can find only one hundred million dollars to increase Head Start for a year and no addition for childcare for Working Families, but can find five hundred million dollars a day for Desert Storm 90 million dollars a day to bail out properly get Savings and Loans institutions and hundreds of millions dollars more to give capital gains tax breaks to the rich your job and every American's job is to begin to mm bat to to help our nation regain moral bearings. I preach to my children a lot and they don't like and I'll always tell them that they can take it or leave it but they can never say they were never told and I want to share with you before sitting down a few of the lessons that I have written and a letter to them one of whom is graduating from college next month lesson one, which I do want to share because I think it is important that everybody know what adults feel and young people particularly going out to conquer the world know what we think is important and I want to share these with you and the lesson that I want to start with is the fact that there is no free lunch don't feel entitled to anything you don't sweat and struggle for and help our nation understand that it's not entitled to world leadership based on the past or on what we say rather than how well we perform and meet changing world needs. Young people who are minority group people need to understand that they can never take anything for granted in America. Especially now is racial intolerance research is all over our land and white young people who have been raised to feel entitled to leadership by accident of birth need to be reminded that the world you face is already two-thirds non-white and poor and that you met and if you're going to survive and if America is going to thrive and we've got to confront the growing diversity because of the total growth in the American labor force between now and the year 2000 only one and eight new labor force editions. All of us are going to need to meet our standards of living will be white non-latino males as Our Fate becomes more and more intertwined with out of non English speaking people of color in California, Texas Iraq, Iran, South Africa and Japan economic and world survival will depend on awareness and respect. The races and culture Frederick Douglass the great abolitionist reminded us often of something. We should never forget and he said that man and let me just add women may not always get what they pay for in this world, but they will always pay for what they get and we need to act on that second lesson is just a sign yourself. My daddy used to ask us whether the teacher had given us any homework. And if we said no he said well sign yourself democracy is not a spectator sport and more Americans are going to have to say if they see a need why doesn't somebody do something not that but why don't I do something third lesson is I hope that you'll never work just for money money alone won't save your soul abilities and family or help you sleep at night. We're the richest nation on Earth, but our incarceration drug addiction and child poverty rates are the highest in the industrialized world. And I hope you graduates will never confuse wealth or fame with keratin and will not tolerate or condone moral corruption. Whether it's found and high A Low Places whatever its color, it's not okay to push or use drugs, even if everybody, you know is doing it. It is not okay to lie, even if countless corporate and public officials do be honest. And the man those who represent you be honest lesson 4 is don't ever be afraid of taking risk or being criticized Anonymous Sage said if you don't want to be criticized don't do anything don't be anything and don't say anything don't be afraid of failing. It's just the way you learn to do things. Right doesn't matter. How many times you fall down? What matters is how many times you keep getting up and you're going to pull down a lot and you can keep getting up a lot less than five is take parenting and family life seriously and insist that those you work for and who represent you do. Our leaders mile family Bali is that we often do not practice and I really think it is outrageous that our nation is not among those massive numbers of industrialized nations who yet provide for Parental leave. We are sitting here with our president threatening to veto again and unpaid parental leave Bill to enable parents to stay at home with their children when a child is born adopted or sick and while I think that we have in the 90s to build a new movement of women and children around family and with men involved in trying to confront the work family struggles. I think it is time for the mothers of this nation to tell the men of this nation what the real priorities are and those priorities are about family. We must all stress family rituals and be moral examples for our children because if we cut Corners they will too if we lie they will too if we spend all of our money on our side on ourselves and tires no portion of it for our college for our religious congregations and Civic causes they won't either and if we Snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison that we adults still have not had the courage to step out. Please remember and help. America remember that the fellowship of human beings is far more important than the fellowship of race and class and gender in a Democratic Society be decent and fair and insisted others do so in your presence. Don't tell don't laugh at don't acquiesce and racial ethnic religious or gender jokes or any practices intended to demean rather than enhance another human being walk away from them stare them down make them unacceptable in your presence through daily. Moral Consciousness counted the proliferating voices of racial division that are gaining respectability over the land including college campuses. Let's stop them with our own witness. Lesson 7 and I'm almost done and I'm looking out for the rain to listen for the sound of the genuine within you small Einstein said is the number of them that see with your own hearts and filled filled with your own hearts and see with your own eyes. Try to be one of them. There is Howard Thurman the black Theologian said something and every one of us that Waits and listens for the sound of a genuine and yourself and it is the only true God you'll ever have and if you cannot hear it, you will all your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else close. There's so many noises and competing demands in our lives that many of us never find out who we are so learn graduates to be quiet enough to hear the sound of a genuine within yourself so that you can hear it in other people and finally never think life is not Living and that you can't make a difference never give up no matter how hard it gets and how uncertain the economy may seem at the moment. It'll change an old proverb their minds and when you get to your wits in remember that God lives there my role model was a soda slave woman named Soldier on a truth. And she thought things were hopeless like a lot of Americans who think things are hopeless now to change the priorities of our nation, but they're never hopeless if they're caring individuals who just decided that they're going to change and transform the value system and that's what we have to do and this decade but my favorite quote from surgery and I came one day when she was speaking out against slavery, which was a hopeless cause and second-class treatment of women and she got heckled by an old white man in the audience who said old slave woman. I don't care anymore about your anti-slavery talking for an old flea bite and she snapped back at him and said, that's alright the Lord willing. I'm going to keep you scratching. So often we think we have to be a big dog and make big changes. I don't have to be big dogs. We just have to be little fleas enough fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and the Fleek or for children and for justice is growing which is why I'm optimistic and I hope that you will join them Shel Silverstein the children's book writer gets the last word. He says listen to the muscles child. Listen to the don'ts listen to the shouldn't The Impossibles the wants listen to the never have then listen close to me anything can happen child. Anything can be if you dream it have faith in it and struggle for it. And I know you're going to do that and together that we are going to make it an American for any child to be poor or to be left behind godspeed to you.