A nation must think before it acts.
John McCain’s moving farewell statement to the American people should become required reading in schools and places of worship, alongside Abraham Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg. Both are powerful encapsulations of the value of lives lived in service, as McCain put it, to “good causes bigger than ourselves.” Each is exquisitely crafted and brief, like a good prayer or a poem, evoking the enduring quest of purposeful Americans to live up to our country’s stated ideals. They should henceforth be read aloud together at Thanksgiving dinners and Independence Day celebrations.