Our visionary host for this Gala, the President of all the 16 Sheraton Latin-American Hotels, Osvaldo Librizzi, and his colleague, Mr. Jose Ponte, President of this beautiful, Buenos Aires, Park Tower Hotel;
The galaxy of distinguished members of the Government of the USA and of Argentina;
Mr. Carlos Otero, President and Mrs. Maria Alicia Tassara, Vice President of Special Olympics Argentina;
The Chief Executive Officers of 33 of Argentina’s most important business corporations and most famous banks who are here tonight;
The beautiful and reigning queen of fashion for all Americans, North Americans, Central Americans, and most important, South Americans, Valeria Mazaa;
Special Olympics athletes, their families and all the friends of Special Olympics.
In all Special Olympics Games, everywhere, our athletes are required to recite the Special Olympics Oath before they compete in any of our events. That Oath says: -- "...Let me win; but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt...”
Tonight, I say to everyone in this large, distinguished and even, brilliant, audience:--
“Oh! Lord! Let me speak eloquently tonight, but if I fail to do so, let me be brave in the attempt...”
“Brave” because all Special Olympics athletes, their coaches, their parents, their siblings, and their friends deserve to be acclaimed by all peoples!!
Why?
Because all these people work year-round for Special Olympics, and none of them gets paid anything! in money! they are inspired to do this work by God or by their own human compassion.
The result of their work is unprecedented in sports, or in philanthropies.
Unprecedented because their work has cut the cost of Special Olympics to $140 per annum per athlete! No world-wide charity has ever rendered so much help to so many people at such low cost.
We now have 1,200,000 athletes; by 2010 AD we will have 3,000,000 registered athletes. We will then have more athletes than any sports movement.
I speak in these generalities and abstract terms only to make one blunt statement of fact, now:
“Special Olympics may well be the first union of all people, of all races, and all creeds, and of all economic and political systems joined together, not to gain political or military or economic power, but to serve ‘the least of our brethren’.”
Let us always help and encourage our athletes because we need to be like them.
Happy to share what God has given us. Happy to share what we have with all who have less. Happy to have the chance in the 21st Century to make the entire world joyful and content, content with what each of us has been given, glad to have the chance to create a 21st Century filled with love, not arms or bombs, filled with compassion, not conflict.
I have fought in the biggest wars in history and I guarantee everyone here that peace is always better than war. With God’s help we can make the 21st Century the first peaceful century in history. Let’s start now with the Special Olympians to inspire us. For they fight and kill no one and never have done so.
