The Greatest of Speeches

President Barack Obama gave a speech today in Cairo, Egypt that will stand out in history as one of the most important speeches of our time. His talk lasted just under an hour, and you can watch it in its entirety at the White House web site.

You should. Everybody should. Many years ago, 40 to be precise, I began living in a Muslim country, Afghanistan. For the next two years, I taught English to Afghan children, and adapted to a village lifestyle that bore scant resemblance to what I had known growing up here.

The poverty was grinding; disease rampant; danger lurked in every drop of water you drank and in every particle of dust that entered your eye. I developed trachoma, which untreated, destroys your pupil, leaving your eye an eerie, sightless white oval. I also had more types of bacterial gastritis that can be described in polite conversation.

These, however, were mere inconveniences compared to what I gained.

I heard prayer calls at dawn and dusk, sung from the mosque by a mullah, whose strong voice, amplified, swept over our valley toward the mountains that enclosed our village.

I ate meals with peasants who were easily the most generous and gracious hosts I have ever encountered. I read the Koran.

These experiences marked me for life. I have never been able to stereotype Muslims because I've known too many. Like people of other faiths, there are good Muslims and bad Muslims.

The overwhelming majority are good -- very good people.

The President's brilliant speech today reaffirmed these simple, but critical truths. As an American who respects and loves my Islamic sisters and brothers, I am grateful to him for delivering one of his greatest speeches in that place at this time.

May his hope for a "new beginning" come true. For it to be, you must help make it to be so. Listen to his words. Hear their meaning. Then, you will be prepared to do your part to change the world.

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