PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT GUARDSMARK, INC.

POINTS OF LIGHT FOUNDATION

CELEBRATION OF SERVICE LUNCHEON COOK CONVENTION CENTER
EAST HALL MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

 

APRIL 18, 1991

TO GIVE OF YOURSELF WILLINGLY… .TO SHARE WITH THOSE WHO HAVE LITTLE TO SHARE. . ..TO HELP OTHERS TO BETTER THEMSELVES, AND THEIR CONDITIONS. …THESE ARE THE ENNOBLING IDEALS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE, AND THE INSPIRING ACTS THAT BRING US TOGETHER TODAY.

[WE ALL KNOW FULL WELL THAT MEMPHIS IS NOT IMMUNE TO SOCIETY’S ILLS; HOMELESSNESS, ILLITERACY, DRUG ABUSE, AND BRUTAL CRIMES OF HATE AND RAGE ARE AS REAL HERE AS ANYWHERE ELSE.

AND YET, TOO MANY IN OUR COMMUNITY ARE LULLED INTO THE BELIEF THAT BECAUSE THEY ARE LESS SUBJECT TO VIOLENCE THAN OTHERS, THEY ARE MORE SAFE; BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE STEADILY FED AND CLOTHED, THEY ARE MORE SECURE FROM WANT; BECAUSE THEIR MINDS AND BODIES ARE CLEANER, THEIR HEARTS ARE PURER.

IT IS AN ILLUSION. BECAUSE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US THE HOUSED AND THE HOMELESS, THE EDUCATED AND THE ILLITERATE, THE FREE AND THE DEPENDENT-ARE ALL LINKED TOGETHER BY A THOUSAND ACTIONS AND INTERACTIONS. AND WHEN THE LEAST OF US SUFFERS FROM WANT, FROM IGNORANCE, FROM ABUSE AND DEGRADATION, SO SUFFERS THE GREATEST OF US.

WE ALL HAVE A ROLE IN THE DAILY DRAMA THAT UNFOLDS IN OUR CITY. AND WE ALL HAVE A HAND IN WRITING THE FINAL ACT.

WILL IT BE TRAGEDY? OR TRIUMPH?

CAN THERE BE A MEMPHIS IN WHICH GREED IS BANISHED, PRISONS STAND EMPTY, SELF INTERESTS ARE SUBORDINATED TO THE COMMON GOOD-A MEMPHIS WHERE NO ONE SEEKS TO ROB OR OPPRESS OR HOLD DOWN THEIR NEIGHBOR?

IS THIS BUT THE DREAM OF IMPRACTICABLE DREAMERS.

IT IS THE DREAM OF THOSE WHO CARE. AND OF THOSE WHO ARE WORKING TODAY TO MAKE THAT DREAM REAL-YOU, THE VOLUNTEERS OF OUR COMMUNITY ]

EACH OF YOU HAS COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK WE CAN DO IS NOT THAT WHICH SIMPLY SECURES A LIVING FOR OURSELVES OR OUR FAMILIES. IT IS WORK THAT IMPROVES THE CONDITION OF OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY, THAT EXTENDS KNOWLEDGE, THAT ENRICHES LIVES, THAT ELEVATES THOUGHTS. IT IS WORK THAT IS PERFORMED FOR ITS OWN SAKE-AND FOR ITS OWN ENDS.

AND EACH OF YOU HAS COME TO REALIZE THAT THERE CAN BE NO TRUE COMMUNITY OF MEMPHIS SAVE THAT BUILT UPON THE PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE-AND CONSIDERATION-OF ONE WITH ANOTHER. AND THAT WITHOUT THIS NEIGHBORLY AFFECTION, NO FAITH IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CITY CAN BE NOURISHED.

THROUGH COMMUNITY SERVICE WE WORK TO REMOVE FROM MEMPHIS WANT AND FEAR OF WANT, TO GIVE TO ALL COMFORT AND INDEPENDENCE AND THE DECENCIES AND REFINEMENTS OF LIFE, THE OPPORTUNITIES OF MENTAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT. IT IS LIKE TURNING WATER LOOSE IN THE DESERT. ONCE STERILE WASTELANDS SOON BEAR UNEXPECTED FRUITS.  ONCE BARREN PLACES, WHERE LIFE SEEMED BANISHED TO TRAGIC EXISTENCE, SOON FLOURISH . AND TALENTS ONCE HIDDEN, VIRTUES UNSUSPECTED, SOON COME FORTH TO MAKE OUR CITY RICHER, FULLER, HAPPIER, NOBLER.

EACH OF US IS STRIVING, IN OUR OWN WAYS, TO OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF CONCERN THROUGH COMMUNITY SERVICE. BUT FEW IN OUR CITY HAVE DONE MORE TO ENCOURAGE THE SPIRIT THAN FRED SMITH THE GREATEST ENTREPRENEUR OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, A GREAT MAN FROM MEMPHIS, AND A HERO OF MINE.

HE IS AN INNOVATOR, AN EXPERIMENTER, A CREATOR WHOSE VISION SEIZED THE COMMONPLACES OF MAIL AND AIRPLANES AND FORGED THEM TOGETHER INTO A BOLD NEW ENTERPRISE CALLED FEDERAL EXPRESS.

AND WITH THAT SAME VIRTUE OF VISION, FRED SMITH IS WORKING TODAY TO GET CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF OTHERS PLACED HIGHER AND HIGHER IN THE SCALES OF VALUE OF MORE AND MORE PEOPLE. HE IS REKINDLING IN THE WORKPLACE A RESPECT FOR VOLUNTEERISM, AND URGING EMPLOYEES TO RISE NOBLY TO ITS CHALLENGES. HE HAS APPROACHED HIS INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF MEMPHIS WITH A DEEP SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY. AND THROUGH HIS EXAMPLE, HE HAS INSTILLED IN ALL OF US A PRIDE IN COMMUNITY SERVICE.

TODAY AS WE ARE SITTING HERE, FRED SMITH IS ONCE AGAIN CHALLENGING US ALL TO MEET OUR COMMON NEEDS THROUGH COMMUNITY SERVICE. THIS MORNING FEDERAL EXPRESS SHIPPED FROM MEMPHIS 1,000 PACKAGES TO CORPORATE LEADERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, CALLING ON THEM TO “DO SOMETHING GOOD, FEEL SOMETHING REAL.” THAT CHALLENGE IS FURTHER EXPLAINED IN THE VIDEO YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE WHICH, AT THIS SAME TIME, IS BEING SEEN BY MORE THAN 1,000 BUSINESS LEADERS AT THE JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NATIONAL RECOGNITION LUNCHEON IN ORLANDO. ACHIEVEMENT NATIONAL RECOGNITION LUNCHEON IN ORLANDO.

AND NOW, IT IS A PRIVILEGE TO PRESENT TO YOU, VIA VIDEO TAPE, MR. FRED SMITH.