[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 202 (Wednesday, October 19, 2016)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 72475-72476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-25480]



[[Page 72473]]

Vol. 81

Wednesday,

No. 202

October 19, 2016

Part IV





The President





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Proclamation 9523--National Character Counts Week, 2016



Proclamation 9524--National Forest Products Week, 2016



Proclamation 9525--Blind Americans Equality Day, 2016
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  Federal Register / Vol. 81 , No. 202 / Wednesday, October 19, 2016 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

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                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.

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                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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2016-25480
Filed 10-18-16; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F7-P