Mt. Vernon，IA | December 05，2007
It is an honor to be introduced by Harris Wofford - one of America’s greatest advocates for public service. Starting with the civil rights movement and the Peace Corps，Harris and a generation of Americans answered a call to service. At a pivotal moment in our history，they stood up；they changed America；and they changed the world.
Today，it’s easy for us to get caught thinking that there are two different stories at work in our lives. There is the story of our day to day cares and responsibilities. And there is the story of what’s happening in the wider world - a story viewed through headlines and websites，a destiny to be shaped by forces beyond our control.
I am here today to ask you to reject this notion，and to invite you to take hold of the future of your country. Because your own story and the American story are not separate - they are shared. And they will both be enriched if we stand up together，and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.
I say this to you as someone whose presence on this stage is unlikely. My father came from thousands of miles away，in Kenya，and went back there soon after I was born. I spent a childhood adrift. I was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia. I lived with my single mom and with my grandparents from Kansas. Growing up，I wasn’t always sure who I was，or where I was going.
Then，when I was about your age，I decided to become a community organizer. I wrote letters to every organization in the country that I could think of. And for a while，I got no response. Finally，this small group of churches on the south side of Chicago wrote back and offered me a job to come help neighborhoods devastated by steel-plant closings. My mother and grandparents wanted me to go to law school. My friends were applying to jobs on Wall Street. I didn’t know a soul in Chicago，and the salary was about $12，000 a year，plus $2，000 to buy an old，beat-up car.
I still remember a conversation I had with an older man before I left. He looked and said，“Barack，I’ll give you a bit of advice. Forget this community organizing business and do something that’s gonna make you some money. You can’t change the world，and people won’t appreciate you trying. You’ve got a nice voice. What you should do is go into television broadcasting. I’m telling you，you’ve got a future.”
Now，he may have had a point about the TV thing. And to tell you the truth，I didn’t have a clear answer about what I was doing. I wanted to step into the currents of history and help people fight for their dreams，but didn’t know what my role would be. I was inspired by what people like Harris did in the civil rights movement，but when I got to Chicago，there were no marches，no soaring speeches. In the shadow of an empty steel plant，there were just a lot of folks struggling. Day after day，I heard ‘no’ a lot more than I heard‘yes.’ I saw plenty of empty chairs in those meetings we put together.
But even as I discovered that you can’t bend history to your will，I found that you could do your part to see that - in the words of Dr. King - it “bends toward justice.” In church basements and around kitchen tables，block by block，we brought the community together，registered new voters，fought for new jobs，and helped people live lives with some measure of dignity.
Eventually，I realized I wasn’t just helping other people. Through service，I found a community that embraced me；a church to belong to；citizenship that was meaningful；the direction I’d been seeking. Through service，I found that my own improbable story fit into a larger American story.
In America，each of us seeks our own dreams，but the sum of those dreams must be greater than ourselves. Because the America we inherited is the legacy of those who struggled，and those who served in so many ways，before us.
It’s the legacy of a band of unlikely patriots who overthrew the tyranny of a King.
It’s the legacy of abolitionists who stood up，and soldiers who fought for a more perfect union.
It’s the legacy of those who started to teach in our schools and tend to the sick in our cities；who laid the rails and volunteered to uphold the law as America moved west.
It’s the legacy of men who faced the Depression by putting on the uniform of the Civilian Conservation Corps；of women who worked on that Arsenal of Democracy and built the tanks and ships and bomber aircraft to fight fascism.
It’s the legacy of those women’s suffragists and freedom riders who stood up for justice；and young people who answered President Kennedy’s call to go forth in a Peace Corps.
The sacrifices made by previous generations have never been easy. But America is a great nation precisely because Americans have been willing to stand up when it was hard；to serve on stages both great and small；to rise above moments of great challenge and terrible trial.
