FOOTPRINTS
by Alfred
Stanley Baker


1920-1996 


In the span of our time on this earth there are few
among us who will be privileged to accomplish those things for which
monuments are erected. 


For the majority, the only records of our having
passed this way will be the ideals we plant in the heart and mind of those
continuing their journey.  


We, born to a free society, begin this journey with
carefree innocence of our inherited responsibilities.  This is right
and proper.  To make, and to end this journey, in the same blitheful
spirit can be likened to the man who walks along the seashore…the next
tide will wash away his foot prints and no one will ever know he
passed this way. 


This then makes that individual’s journey here without
meaning.  The world is poorer for his having come, and made no
contribution…but no poorer for his having departed.  


If these tenets be true then we each have a
responsibility to perpetuate those ideals upon which this land of freedom
was founded…has prospered and has shone with a brilliance of hope to all
mankind for a better life. 


We then have a privileged responsibility unique to man
in his quest for personal recognition. 


We should, by the example of our action and personal
philosophy, show all men that security in his freedom is his personal and
daily responsibility. 


We should, by a daily devotion of loyalty to the
ideals upon which our nation was founded, and rose to preeminence, reassert
our dedication and determination to build upon the rich heritage that is
ours. 


Only we, as responsible individuals, can
determine the permanence of our footprints.