Remarks on the anniversary of the aircraft tragedy in Croatia

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 7, 1997

And these are not all the tributes which have come in honor of those whom we lost. We also can celebrate our loved ones by knowing that the mission of peace and reconstruction they undertook in Bosnia and Croatia is being carried on. When they fell, so many of you here, even those of you who had experienced painful personal losses, took up a fallen standard. Today, with the great outpouring of reconstruction aid from around the world, with dozens of American companies working to restore the currents of commerce, with the Department of Commerce preparing to open the door of its new office in Zagreb next week, the habits of peace are taking on. And that's something to celebrate.

Above all, we can celebrate them by striving to live our lives in a way that honors their lives. Whether we're in Government or in our military, in journalism or business, let us resolve to serve. When we see a child in need, a community in distress, a nation struggling to be free, let us resolve to act. Let us resolve to learn from this tragedy and work, as so many of you have done, to make our airplanes and our airports and air travel safer. Let us resolve to honor those business leaders who perished by celebrating the best of American business and saying, "Yes, it can be a good and noble thing, and we should work to expand its reach."

Earlier today, the conference board in our administration announced that we are creating the Ronald H. Brown Award for Corporate Leadership. Each year that award will honor America's finest corporate citizens, those who do well and do good by serving.

Above all, let us resolve always to shine a light of hope and freedom in the darkness, for the people we lost a year ago did not die on a distant mountain because they did not care or did not believe in the possibility of tomorrow being better than today. And if we owe them anything at all, we owe them our best efforts to make tomorrow better than today and to spread hope among our people and throughout the world.

Tomorrow will be 29 years since Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis. When you think of your loved ones, remember him and what he said: "All inhabitants of the globe are now neighbors, the large house in which we live demands that we transform this worldwide neighborhood into a worldwide brotherhood." The people we celebrate today gave their lives building that worldwide brotherhood. For the men and women, the boys and girls alive all over the world, and those yet to come, it is up to us to celebrate them by continuing that noble work.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:04 p.m. at the Commerce Department. In his remarks, he referred to Alma Brown, widow of former Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown.