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Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll For those of you who have not yet made your New Year's resolution, I offer this as a suggestion to you: Renew your commitment to service. The word service provides its own definition. I see service going on all around us every day. I see it in teachers willing to shape the ambitions of a new generation. I see it in nurses working in hospitals and visiting homes. I see it in our police personnel and our firefighters. And I see it most visibly in the young men and women of our armed services who have our thoughts and prayers as they go about their duties six thousand miles from here. I also see a lot of service being generated by women in this great Commonwealth. I sense an unselfish spirit here and that sense is easy to come by. I see it the women who lead many of our Commonwealth's businesses. I see it in many of the women who volunteer in various capacities within their communities. Being women, we are familiar with service. It's like air. We live in it. We inhale it. We export it. Former Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm said that "service is the rent we pay for our room on this earth." I agree. And you know, and I know, when we find our "cause" and our "calling," it doesn't matter if we're tall or short; young or not-so-young; if we're behind in the rent -- whatever our circumstances -- women can be counted upon to give meaning to the phrase: "Not what's in it for me, but what can I do to help." All my life, people have asked me: "are you in public service?" But I choose to ask myself a different question: "Is public service in me?" The answer is a resounding "YES!" It is a sense of purpose that has dominated my life, and I've enjoyed every moment of it. I have almost reached my two year mark as Lieutenant Governor. Throughout the past two years, people have asked me a lot of questions. They ask: "Do you like the job? What's it like to preside over the State Senate? Is there a lot of prestige to go with the office? How does it feel to be the first women in that office? I always can answer that last question easily. How does it feel to be the first women to be Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania? It feels OVERDUE. Women, by nature, are patient people, but come on, here! Two centuries to play catch-up? It's inevitable that if you reach a certain age and if you have accumulated a considerable resume, that people begin asking you a lot of questions. I now get asked questions about nuclear proliferation, about international monetary policies, the emergence of Third World influence. It's strange I get asked these questions. What's even stranger is that I start giving answers! And every time I do, I feel like I'm representing women everywhere --women who for too long have been ignored. Women of all generations have quickly brought about "change" in America. Two hundred years ago, Sacagawea, a young women from a Shoshone Indian tribe, guided Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the Great Northwest. She would die at the age of 26, but what she did would find its place in the shaping of a nation. Amelia Earhart disappeared at the age of 39, but not before she set an example of independence and skill and courage that should forever inspire us. And Rosa Parks was 42 when she sat down on that bus in Alabama and changed the lives of millions of people. Helen Keller, who could not see, hear, or speak, lived to be 88 and demonstrated that no matter how high the hurdles, the human spirit is capable of overcoming them. I urge you to remember that women are in the best time they've ever inhabited to remind America of its greatness. The nation needs to recapture its visionary qualities. Women can help lead that. I'll tell you why. Women have always been the guardians of caring and compassion. Women are organized---most of the time. We tend to think in lists. We carry around "things-to-be-done" memos. Well, the things-to-be done list right now is extensive, and each of you can do something about it. For example, I'd like to see women take lead in elevating cooperation to the same level as competition in the American value system. America likes competition. I know that. Many will say that we became the remarkable country we are because of our dedication to winning. I submit that it's time to give cooperation some equal billing. Competition equates success with beating someone else. We teach that only one winner is possible. Who is the best? Who will advance further in the playoffs? Who will win the Pennsylvania Super Bowl -- the Eagles or Steelers? What we overlook in our infatuation with winning is that both of these teams are successful, or they would not even have made the playoffs. Competition may be a cultural institution, but it is not a part of human nature. I'm in politics. I've seen a lot of people come in second in an election. That doesn't make them losers. As parents, we sometimes unconsciously teach our kids to compete for our love and attention. We don't mean to do it, but sometimes we push them to be better than each other. Again, I'm not opposed to competition. In fact, I thrive on it. But I am selling the concept of cooperation here today. That's where the future of public service can be found. Social, political and economic high ground can best be achieved by creating cooperation. Americans know something about that. We have a habit of showing up at the scene of a disaster with aid, food, money and love. If there are devastating floods, we show up. If famine strikes a country, we will show up. If an earthquake crumbles a country, we will be there. In the years ahead I expect women not only to be a part of this new era of cooperation -- I expect them to lead it. Women know that cooperation makes better use of resources. Women know that we need to balance our competitive impulses with a moral, community-centered behavior. In my lifetime I have seen the world grow smaller and more crowded, We live on a planet where one nation's environmental decisions affect another nation's air; where world economics intersect; where the fate of one may be the fate of all. To sort all that out -- to write the happy ending we all seek -- we need a new policy of politeness, a new commitment to cooperation. What better time to enact that policy than here in the New Year? Join me in resolving to commit ourselves to service. CapNews Guest Speaker: Archives |
