Those words may be the most famous words President John F. Kennedy ever spoke in public. They certainly are the only words I can recite from his 1961 inaugural address.
Our nation and world would face some challenges in the years that would follow these now famous words including mourning the death of the man who said them.
Many of those challenges have given way to new ones over the years. Some have been resolved while others have not. Success was acheived in some areas yet failure in others.
However; those twenty two words in President Kennedy's speech inspired a nation with hope, but requested something of a nation that has gone overlooked within the past fifty-two years. You see the President asked every American to contribute to building a great nation.
He founded the Peace Corp on March 1st, 1961 to provide young people opporuntiies to serve and fulfill the request he made to find out how each one of us could serve our country. Here is a link to President Kennedy's address if you would like to read in its complete form.
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html
So I have some questions for you to respond to.
Should we seek to be served by our country or should we find out ways to help our country?
How can students like yourself volunteer to make our country better?
Is it important we do so or not? Tell me why.