Wherever there is suffering or injustice a great cause exists. Wherever there is ignorance a great cause exists. Wherever there are people for whom the basic rights of man are denied, a great cause exists. My father's generation fought a depression and the Second World War. Mine fought the Cold War.
Noble causes give our lives meaning.
They give even the most obscure lives historical importance. They offer a form of immortality. Even when our names have been forgotten the world will still remember that we were here. When I was a young man, I thought glory was the highest ambition, and that all glory was self-glory. My parents tried to teach me otherwise, as did the Naval Academy.