National Character Counts Week, 2016

Proclamation 9523 of October 14, 2016

National Character Counts Week, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Our country has survived centuries of trial and
triumph, and we have endured times that have tested us
and marked moments of progress that were once deemed
impossible. Today, we live in a time of extraordinary
possibility--and we must decide how our next chapters
will be written. The task of shaping America's course
falls to each one of us as individuals who make up our
American family, and as we celebrate National Character
Counts Week, let us seek to live out the ideals that
have inspired our country's journey and that define our
national character.

No matter who you are, what you look like, where you
come from, or what your circumstances are, America
should be a place where the things that make you unique
and different are celebrated. That promise of equality
and acceptance has been our country's North Star since
its founding, and in thinking of how that centuries-old
ideal translates into our lives today, it comes down to
all of us showing others the compassion and acceptance
that we would only wish for ourselves. If we seek to
understand one another and take advantage of
opportunities to bring people together across lines of
difference, we will increasingly realize as a people
that we are more alike than we are different.

Let us listen to each other, see each other, and
recognize the common humanity that makes America what
it is. Let us embrace the multitudes of races, faiths,
cultures, and origins that make up our diverse, vibrant
Nation. It will make us better as a people and stronger
as a country, and it starts with reflecting on the way
we live our lives, the way we treat others, and the
example we set for those around us. We have a
collective obligation to reflect in our own lives the
values we strive to reflect in our national life, and
no gesture of goodwill is too small--together, ripples
of kindness can drown out voices of hate, wash away
cynicism and doubt, and help us see the world in truer
colors.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim October 16 through
October 22, 2016, as National Character Counts Week. I
call upon public officials, educators, parents,
students, and all Americans to observe this week with
appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-first.