At 55 I just now understand how much there is to know. A "baby-boomer", amongst the first, I was born 9 months and 5 minutes after my Dad got home from WWII (and he got home as quick as he could). I, along with my generation, have been witness to and participants in some of the greatest triumphs and tragedies of the modern world. We grew up in a world being rebuilt from two great wars. Wars that molded our parents into the competent people they were and are. Wars that, on one hand robbed them of much of their youth and innocence and, on the other taught them what they and others were capable of. In Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation", he talks of the people who, after the war, came back and quietly built the country we live in today … the greatest country in the history of the world. There is no doubt about our parents. They paid their dues and even though much was wrong during their watch …. very many of the wrongs were righted.

While we were watching the world around us change, it all seemed very natural to us. Political candidates were cordial to each other and my Dad told my Mom to flag down a trucker if she ever had car trouble …. they could be trusted and would get her help. We now know that there was pain and injustice in the world, but at least to us, it seemed a nicer place. Then on a Friday in November our lives changed. The world became a much more dangerous place. Someone reached down in the very center of our being and pulled out something we have never been able to replace. President Kennedy's death became our Pearl Harbor. On the other side of that waited Viet Nam; all the things that were so stable in our lives began to move when they should not. All of us began a pilgrimage, one that we still struggle with. That pilgrimage is much the same as that of our parents and forefathers. To live and enjoy the life we have while being vigilant. To push freedom to its greatest and most noble heights, while honoring our responsible to leave things better than they were when we started.

We are just now at our full height. Our intellect, resource and influence will never be greater that it now is. We are in charge. We must demonstrate to our children … one last time … how to shoulder responsibility. There is a long term resolve that will be required to defend and secure the peace of our nation. That resolve must come from us. The world and our children are watching. We must be very clear about who our friends are and who is our enemy. Friends are not the people who look like you. Friends are the people who share basic values with you, values that set in the highest esteem family and honor and dignity. Friends, even if they don't agree with you will fight for your right to be wrong. Our response toward the people who attacked us must be disproportional. The payment we extract from them for their actions must warn all others who consider such things … the price is just too great. It will at times seem that we have gone too far, but consider having to live with the threat … not so much over your head but over the heads of those you love. Hold your leaders to the highest standards. Do what you can do. Take pride in who you are.

As for the next generation … can they measure up? This time is their "Friday in November". Look around; there is heroism everywhere. The faces are much younger than ours and the moment is shaping who they will become. I, for one, am encouraged that when their time is at hand … they will make us proud.

God bless America