1998 at the Rocky Mountain Garage
Two score and ten years ago,
my father and mother brought forth on this continent a new manchild,
conceived largely in lust,
but eventually dedicated to the proposition that
all are created as eternal, evolving souls.
Today, fifty years hence,
you and I are engaged in our own internal civil wars . . .
testing whether any of us, however dedicated . . .
can fully mature.
We are met on the stage of our present struggles and opportunities - planet Earth.
Whether we know it or not,
we have come collectively to dedicate this planet toward its higher calling.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate . . .
we cannot consecrate . . .
we cannot hallow this planet Earth.
The Great Ones, living and dead, who have led the way before us have consecrated it,
far above our poor power to add or detract.
Yet, it is for us in bodies, today,
to be dedicated to the unfinished work begun by the Great Ones of all times and places.
Let us increase our devotion, our willingness to share and to serve . . .
and to highly resolve that this people,
shall have a new birth of responsibility to our nation and our planet . . .
and to simply but truly love our God and our neighbors as ourselves.
