http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/spc_2003_0923.htmlGreat speech from a great lady.
"This is a country built on diversity—on a coming together of different people from different lands at different times. In so many places around the world diversity is seen as a source of weakness and division, but here it has been our intrinsic strength. Every time we have opened the doors of opportunity to African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women, the handicapped, religious minorities and others, we have grown stronger. And always what has made that work is the potent combination of three simple traits: respect, selflessness and connectedness. Or, to put it more simply, open hearts and open minds."
"Today, America is like those trees. We are the colossus of the forest, but we are still fed by the interplay of a community of nations and peoples with that of our own. In this era of global everything—global economies, markets, media and culture—the networks of connection that bind us together in a shared destiny span the entire globe.
Embracing that reality is the defining challenge of this generation. It may be engaged, at times, on the field of battle, but ultimately it will be won or lost on the field of ideas—the ideas that guide us and that we embody through our actions as individuals and as a nation. We will win it only by creating a world where differences in race and culture and religion are accepted, where the environment is protected, where human rights are valued, and where individuals can live in dignity and to the utmost of their abilities."