These are the questions we ought to be asking.
Who we are, what we're about. And, by the way, what we're not about.
For example:
We're not about having our scientists come up with miracle drugs and then failing to get them to the people who need them.
We're not about mosquito bites or dirty water as a death sentence.
We're not about politicians making promises and failing to keep them, which is what they are doing right now.
One more thing we're not about:
We're not about charity; we're about justice. Justice and equality.
Aren't we? Do we actually believe that a child's life in Africa has the same value as a child's life in America? That they are equal before the eyes of God as it says in your blessed Declaration of Independence. Doesn't it say in the Holy Scriptures ... "love thy neighbor," and isn't that a command, not a suggestion?
And when Dr. King said, "I have a dream," was he just talking about an American dream? I thought it was an Irish dream, a Latin American dream, an African dream.
Dr. King's dream was a dream big enough to include all of us. All humankind.
If we really believe that, if we're really ready to say, yes, we are equal, yes, Africans are our brothers and sisters, then we're going to have to make some changes.
We're going to need some new ideas.
Or maybe just revisit some old ideas.
Like the two-centuries-old idea of America.
America, don't you know, is not just a country, it's an idea. Think about that for a second. Your country is not just a geographical location, it's an idea.
The idea that all men, and women, are created equal.
That the poorest matter as much as the richest.
That in a world of plenty, no one should die for lack of food in their belly.
That where you live should not determine whether you live or you die.
The idea that our dreams are one and our fates are one.
The idea that anything -- anything -- is possible.
That's the America the world needs.
That's the America I've always loved.
I've loved America since I was a kid ... watching you all on television ... on black-and-white television in my house on Cedarwood Road ... put a man on the moon.
You know I'm 9 years old ... and I'm thinking Americans are crazy ... "Hey honey, is that the moon up there? Let's take a walk on it. Let's bring back a piece." I love that America.
You know, the funny thing about the astronauts in the Apollo program ... When they came back home, the thing they talked about the most was not the moon. It was the Earth.
They marveled at the Earthrise. We've all seen that first picture. Taken Christmas Eve, 1968 -- America at war, cities in flames, but the Earth, from above, so serene ... so beautiful ... so very fragile.
The astronaut who took that photo, Bill Anders, said when he returned: "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth."
A trip to the moon changed their worldview. It changed America's worldview. It changed everyone's worldview. America, by its vision, its determination, its sheer ingenuity, changed the way we all saw ourselves. We saw that our planet is small. That it's adrift -- alone -- a light in the darkness. That it needs our protection. That we upon it are one, whether we want to be or not.
America enabled the world to step outside itself and look back.
To see ourselves as we truly are.
When America looks outside of itself, its view of itself is never clearer.
Its faith in itself is never firmer.
Its purpose is never stronger.
Today, at a time when America, again, is tempted to turn inward, turn away from the world and its troubles, it is more essential than ever that you look outward.
America: We are not asking you to put another man, or woman, on the moon.
America: We are asking you to help put humanity back on this Earth.