September 30, 2007 Print
Thank you for being here on the 60th anniversary of the commemoration of this shrine. I am honored to be here to re-affirm the commitment of ODNR to keeping this beautiful shrine open and to making sure that all the things this shrine represents will go on.
Thank you to the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs and to the Ohio Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers for all you have done to honor those whose names are written on these scrolls.
It is humbling to be asked to be here... as we honor so many who represent so much of what is best about our country. While a part of us wishes that a shrine like this wasn't needed, and that we did not have any reason to come here on the last Sunday of September, it is a necessary thing, and it is a right thing, and I am glad that it is here in a place and a setting like this.
Since I started at ODNR that I have been in this forest more times than I have been anywhere else in Ohio. Wednesday I was here with a group of legislative interns... I have met here with park managers, fly fisherman, water conservationists, foresters, farmers, scenic river advocates and others. Taken individually, they are like groups all over Ohio. Taken together, they represent our best examples of how man and nature can co-exist, and how both can learn to prosper without either being lost.
So I am glad that this shrine is here, in this place more than any other.
Here, in this forest protected by so many, we have the quiet we need to remember, and remind ourselves that we are here not to mourn but to honor. We have more than enough places to mourn.
Three thousand years ago, on a quiet hill described as being a lot like this, standing in front of a shrine like this one, made from stone quarried in the hills nearby, Pericles honored Athenian warriors killed on the plains of Sparta by saying that heroes have the whole earth as their memorial.
He asked that we remember that the most courageous among us are those who understand what is both sweet and terrible in life, and still go out undeterred to meet what is to come. While they were with us, we shared with them much of what is sweet in life. Their being taken away taught us much about what is terrible. He closed by saying that none of those being honored was perfect, but the shrine was dedicated to their courage, because it is courage the world asks of us, not perfection.
So, again, I am humbled to be here today, to share with you, especially the Gold Star Mothers, this shrine in this forest on this day. I am honored to join with you and to promise that this shrine will remain a place suitable to honor those whose names are on these lists and suitable to honor their memory and their courage.