“We can’t afford, no matter who is president or which party is in power, to have one fifth of our nation who don’t see themselves as participating at all in the tremendous advances that have been taking place in our country. Our national unity must be founded on shared opportunity.”
Our Quote of the Week underlines the fact that creating an economy that provides opportunities for all is an issue that transcends politics and that can bring us together as a nation.
Sargent Shriver gave this Address to the YMCA in April of 1964, while he was Director of Peace Corps and shortly after President Johnson had appointed him to lead the War on Poverty. In the speech, Shriver draws parallels between Peace Corps, which was successful and was continuing to expand, and the War on Poverty, which was still in the exploratory stages and whose programs had not yet been implemented. Shriver makes the point that both of these initiatives were important because, like the YMCA, they were based on the principle of service. He says:
“It is an effort at any rate to produce a program which is constructed in the national interest. And both of these programs are patriotic not in a nationalistic sense of patriotism but in a sense to service to your country and service to your fellowman.”
As we reflect on Sargent Shriver’s words today, may we be motivated by the notion that reducing poverty is in all our best interest. May we envision an economy that includes economic opportunity for all and may we work towards it in a spirit of service and cooperation.
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