Prepared remarks of Cindy McCain
By AP STAFF
Associated Press
September 5, 2008
Page 3 of 4
We all to have work together ... build consensus -- the way John has done all his life.
His leadership inspires and empowers ... and places ultimate success in all our hands.
Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, "with freedom goes responsibility -- a responsibility that can only be met by the individual himself."
I have been witness to great service and sacrifice -- to lives lived with humility and grace.
In World War II, my father's B-17 was shot down three times. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
But he was quiet about that ... and never claimed to have done more than his small share.
Just like my husband.
I think John was a hero in Vietnam.
But he thinks it was just his turn.
Our son, Jack, will graduate from the United States Naval Academy next year -- fourth generation -- ready to do his service.
And our son Jimmy -- a lance corporal in the Marine Corps -- served honorably in Iraq ... as hundreds of thousands of other young men and women just like him are doing for America and freedom everywhere.
The stakes were never more clear to me, than the morning I watched my son Jimmy strap on his weapons and board a bus headed for harm's way.
I was born and raised in the American West and will always see the world through the prism of its values.
My Father was a true "Western Gentleman."
He rose from hardscrabble roots to realize the American dream.
With only a few borrowed dollars in his pocket, a strong back and a can-do spirit, he built a great life for his family.
His handshake was his solemn oath. He looked you straight in the eye and he always believed the best of you unless you gave him good cause not to.
Modest and good-natured, he had deep roots in our American soil.
He taught me life is not just about you -- it's also about nurturing the next generation ... preparing a better world for all our children and helping them find the right way up.
We all come to that knowledge in different ways. For me, the great moment of clarity came when I became a mother.
Something changed in me, and I would never see my obligations the same way.
It was after that, I was walking through the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, surrounded by terrible poverty and the devastation of a cyclone.
All around me were the children, and the desperate faces of their mothers. The pain was overwhelming ... and I felt helpless.
But then I visited an orphanage begun by Mother Teresa, and two very sick little girls captured my heart.
There was something I could do. I could take them home.
And so I did.
>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3 4
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
