WEBVTT

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I want to be clear about something . Uh ,

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you are both ordinary and special .

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Your ordinary people choosing to do

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extraordinary things . That's exactly

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the point . 250 of you wearing those

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red t-shirts . In the 250th year of

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American independence . You don't get

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to choose when and where you're born .

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You do get to choose what you do .

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Douglas MacArthur was born here in

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Little Rock , Arkansas on January 26th ,

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1880 . He didn't choose that .

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But he chose to become a soldier , a

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leader , a defender of this nation .

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He chose to do extraordinary things

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with the circumstances of his birth .

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And your families , they get to witness

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this choice . They get to understand

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that the person they love is choosing

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to be part of something larger than

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themselves . Something that ordinary

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Arkansans have been doing since 1804 .

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From Concord to Little Rock , and from

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Minuteman to you . That's what this

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ceremony honors . It's a moment to

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remember . It's a moment to connect .

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The connection to important moments ,

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the understanding that ordinary people

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stand ready . To defend life , liberty ,

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and the pursuit of happiness for those

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who come after . That principle has not ,

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has never been broken . It has been

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reaffirmed by every generation , and

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this generation is reaffirming it today .