DEAR EDITOR:

“The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge. We find ourselves entangled with apparently unanswerable problems in unpronounceable places, [but] to turn away now is to abandon the world to those whose ambition is to destroy a free society. Such a policy of retreat would be folly if we had our backs to the wall. It is surely even greater folly at a time when more realistic, more responsible, more affirmative policies have wrought such spectacular results. To renounce the world of freedom now, to abandon those who share our commitment, and retire into lonely and not so splendid isolation, would be to give communism the one hope which, in this twilight of disappointment for them, might repair their divisions and rekindle their hope.”

– President John F. Kennedy, 1963

[American University Commencement Address and Address at the Mormon Tabernacle]

Let every nation know the grandchildren of the greatest generation will not wheel and deal, but we still dream. We have heard the starting gun of the shot heard round the world, and are ready to run our leg of the relay; but we recall the roar of rockets empowering our handshake in the stars, and still dream of joint endeavors to the heavens and to Mars.

We have read the deals of days when the fell clutch of circumstance gripped the world, and we are — and we shall remain — unafraid; but we recall the rings that forged the lines of walls that only vaccinized, and dream of days when the breeze of time unfurls a flag that’s unified.

We dream no small dreams, and therefore stand ready to work with those who are willing to work for a better future. Together, we can make a world where our grandchildren look back and say: Here was the moment when humanity turned from the terrors of its past to the promise of its future. Here was the hour when nations chose order over anarchy, cooperation over chaos, and amity over the apocalypse.

We will not find the more perfect union we seek in bargains struck behind closed doors, but in the ties we build in open daylight.

STEVE POTASHNIK

Howland