Thank you Mayor Tergin. To Governor Parson, First Lady, and our distinguished guests, I say good morning. To the People of the State of Missouri, let me add my voice to the others and say ... Happy Birthday!

Fifty years ago today, I stood in this exact spot … well, not exactly, I was standing where you are now ... but I was here. And my dad was by my side. Throughout my childhood, when I was with my father in a crowd, I would hold his hand. But, when I was too little to hold his whole hand, I would wrap my fist tightly around his little finger. I remember this so clearly, I can still feel it.

Then, what seemed like only minutes later, I was walking with my wife Laura through crowds ... and our children were holding onto my little finger. As they got older, they would hold my hand ... and now that they’re adults, they hold my heart.

So, when I thought about the incredible opportunity that speaking to you today would be, and when I thought about what I would or should say ... that is what came to me, those memories of standing next to my Dad, and my kids standing next to Laura and me. Because today is about history and that’s really all that my history is. Anything farther back than that is just a story, and anything from this moment forward merely a vague promise.

But that’s not what history is for us, as a city or a state or even a nation. Our history is more than just my personal stories or yours. Instead, collectively, we can see that the parade of generations stretches so much farther back – and that our hopes and dreams stretch so much farther forward – than for any of us individually.

As I think about all that Missouri history includes and all that our history means, I am proud. Not always of what happened, or why, because Missouri and Missourians have had our share of shortcomings, but I am proud that our history is what we made it ... together.

There have been times that showed the best of who we are, and other times that showed the worst we can be. Early in our history together, tens of thousands of Missourians ... were owned by other Missourians. Women could not vote or own property as men did. We forcibly removed the Mormons from Jackson County and Native Americans from across the state.

But Missourians also fought for each other, and rescued each other from countless tornadoes, floods and other disasters. We pulled together when times were hard, as recessions and depressions came and went.

We fought to free enslaved peoples and to protect the defenseless around the world in hundreds of places whose names we can never forget, like Shiloh, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, Pyongyang, and Falujah ... and in thousands of other places whose names few (if any) of us can remember, though we should.

We did those things because we are a good people. We’ve shone more often than we’ve blushed, we’ve been a force for light more often than we’ve been the cause of darkness. When times are tough or a fight needs fighting, we stand together as one. And you know why? Because we are one. And, when things are tough, we don’t have the time or energy to spare to try and convince ourselves otherwise.

The divisions we devote so much of our time and energy to in good times aren’t real. Left – Right; Black – White; Immigrant – and those whose ancestors were immigrants. Those divisions are illusory, something we construct ... but only when we have the time and energy to spare – only when times are good. When times are tough, we are one. We stand as one; we work as one; and we prevail as one.

You see, history isn’t just a scoreboard; a summing up of the good and the bad. Our history is what it is. What happened, happened. It’s what got us here and here is where we have to be if we want to move forward. What matters to me is that we did what we did – for better or worse – together, as one people. Even when we didn’t believe we were one people, we were, and are, and always will be.

Making someone move to the back of the bus is a lot of things, including unforgivably mean, but it’s also stupid because we are all going to the same stop and we’re all going to arrive there ... together ... at the exact same time.

My parents named me for St. Paul, the curmudgeon of the New Testament – and my colleagues might tell you I’ve taken on those curmudgeonly traits – but St. Paul wrote “the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you” for “God hath tempered the body together.” I believe the same is true for those of us who call Missouri home.

There is no tomorrow for any of us that isn’t the tomorrow for all of us. To paraphrase St. Paul, no one of us can make a difference unless we all make a difference.

So, as we stand here today reflecting on history, thinking about our personal families, holding their hands (or fingers) to link the generations, we must also think about our larger family and remind ourselves that it took all of us – every single Missourian for the last 200 years – to make us who we are and to bring us to this day.

And, when you look around this crowd today, and you think of the 6 million Missourians we all represent, and all the millions who came before, understand that – not only did it take each and every one of us to bring Missouri to where it is today, right now – it will take all of us to move Missouri into the future ... our future ... together. A future that will be as bright as we make it ... together.

Then, 50 years from today, maybe one of the young people in the audience this morning will be standing where I’m standing, holding the daunting title I’ve been given, and telling the world how well the people of Missouri – a good people – have done. I hope so, for no matter what our history holds, no matter how high our highs or low our lows, Missouri’s best days lie ahead ... and – as long as we move forward together – they always will. 

Thank you.