If we hate, they will hate. If we learn to love each other, however, they will follow us into a better world. If we are to unify our society, if we are to assure liberty for our children in a world free from mutual hatred, we can do so only by committing ourselves to a renewed social gospel. The opposite of love is not hatred toward each other. The opposite of love is indifference to our neighbor's well-being.
Hatred is merely the occasional consequence of that indifference.
By reaching out to each other today, we have taken an important first step toward overcoming our indifference toward each other. We have begun to practice the discipline of love, have begun to practice what we preach to our children. Now is the time for each of us to decide where we will be as a community one, two, ten years from this eventful day. If we choose wisely, our children and their children will long remember this day and the journey we begin here together. Thank you, and God bless us all.