not just how much you really miss them -- but how much you really owe them. My dad influenced me much more than I ever thought. He was born with no heels on his feet and legs about a foot shorter than they're meant to be.  But he never complained - even when he lost both those legs later in life. Because disability in the 1930s was such a stigma, he was an only child.  Probably a lonely child. But Dad was the eternal optimist.  To him the glass was always half full.  Usually with something alcoholic in it. When I was a boy I remember once going on a long walk with him in the village where we lived, passing the church he supported and the village hall where he took part in interminable parish council meetings. He told me what he was most proud of. It was simple -- working hard from the moment he left school and providing a good start in life for his family. Not just all of us, but helping his mum too, when his father ran off. Not a hard luck story, but a hard work story. Work hard.  Family comes first.  But put back in to the community too. There is nothing complicated about me. I believe in working hard, caring for my family and serving my country. And there is nothing complicated about what we need today. This is still the greatest country on earth.  We showed that again this summer.