Senate Journal: Page 86: Friday, January 15, 1999

  nurturing community.  Our two sons, Jess and Doug, benefited by that
  decision.  Each
  day they give us reason to be proud.

  During those twenty-three years, I've learned of Iowa's greatness.  It
  starts with its
  bountiful natural resources, acres of rich black soil and miles of
  meandering streams
  and rivers.  But its real greatness lies in its most enduring quality - its
  goodness.
   Iowa is great because Iowa is good.  Let me repeat that, Iowa is great
  because Iowa is good.    Our goodness arises from the fundamental goodness
  of our
  people - caring, hard-working, well-educated, and decent.  From child care
  providers to
  direct care staff at nursing homes, from teachers to social workers, from
  farmers to
  factory workers, from veterans to volunteers - caring, hard-working,
  well-educated and
  decent.  Nowhere is our goodness, and therefore our greatness, better
  displayed than in
  our dedication to family and community.

  Family and community is how and where we raise our children and care for
  each
  other.  Family and community is how and where we teach our values, how and
  where
  we mold our ambitions and our aspirations, and how and where today's dreams
  become
  tomorrow's Iowa.

  Family and community - more than genetics and geography - they are our
  collective frame of mind, our way of living, and our shared vision of how we
  want to be.

  At the outset, I spoke of the dawning of the new millennium and of challenge
  and
  opportunity.  Stated simply, our challenge at the close of this century and
  at the
  beginning of a new century is to preserve what is best about Iowa and to
  make it
  better.  We must dedicate ourselves to preserving our natural resources -
  our land,
  water, and air and to preserving the best of family and community while
  adapting each
  to the changing world that surrounds us.

  Making our best - better will not be easy.  We will be challenged to change.

  To preserve and to enhance our natural resources, we must rethink what we do
  with our land, our water, and our air. We must be good stewards and
  rededicate
  ourselves to restoring and conserving the land, to cleaning up the water,
  and to
  protecting the air.  It is our natural resources that hold the key to a
  stronger, more
  prosperous Iowa.  If we are able to mix good old Iowa common sense with
  changing
  science, we can enrich our natural resources and secure a better today and
  decades of
  better tomorrows.

  Constant and unrelenting change challenges our notion of family.  For many
  of us,
  family is not simply defined.  Step families, foster families, adopted
  families, single
  parent families and other arrangements today redefine family.  We live life
  at an ever-
  accelerating pace as we incorporate technology into everyday life.  Adapting
  to
  changing lifestyles and managing the hectic pace of life while preserving
  what is best
  about family will require information, knowledge and wisdom.  One of the
  keys to
  successful family life is a good education.

  Iowa has had a long-standing tradition of excellence in education.  To
  maintain that
  tradition and to build upon it for stronger Iowa families, will require us
  to think
  differently about education and to be prepared to invest in it.

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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