I'd give up all the technological advances - the PC's, the Smartphones, and everything else if we could ever get back to the way it was in this Nation in the time of my youth.
Lots of bad things back then, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was the President of the United States and we were secure without surrendering our Constitutional Rights.
Some may say that we need to find a "balance" between Freedom and Security. They are dead wrong! My ancestors came here for Freedom - they had enough of "security" at the sufferance of lords and potentates.
Patrick Henry said it all in the magnificent peroration to his address to the House of Burgesses 23rd March 1775:
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
That speech was my declamation in High School debate. It formed my character, and like many things I learned over a half-century ago, it has stayed with me, and will until I die.
I know it may seem to some that I have wandered far afield from "Hello Mary Lou." I think not. I won't go on at this time, but I believe all here know where I stand.
I have no fortune to leave to my children - only the example I have carried from the seniors of my family to those I leave behind.
I have no graphic ready this evening to bid adieu. They are here - they gather here to watch over us from above. They are our Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Aunts, Uncles, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers and Sisters. They are the Friends of our childhood who are no longer with us. They are our Sons and Daughters, our Nieces and Nephews - All of whom have kept Faith with us and with our Nation.
In this time of crisis, when our Constitutional Freedoms are under attack as never before, I raise my prayers for our Valiant Troops, who hazard all for Freedom. I raise my prayers for all here - who stand for them. I raise my prayers for the United States of America - the Beacon of Freedom.
"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!"
Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)