    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [June 21, 2002]
    [Pages 1038-1041]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Marks Street Senior Recreation Complex in Orlando
    June 21, 2002

        Thank you all very much. So here's what they say about Marks Street
    Senior Center: It's one of the most happening places in all of central
    Florida. [Laughter] I believe that. I've just come from a spinning
    class. [Laughter] I just came from a strong exercise class. Thankfully,
    I didn't have to join. [Laughter] I was most impressed by the spirit of
    the participants and the idea of encouraging exercise. That's what I'm
    here to talk about.
        Before I do so, of course, I want to say how proud I am of my
    little brother--[laughter]--my big little brother.
    I love him a lot. I love him a lot. He's a great man. I'm glad to be
    with him here in Florida.
        Today I came down with some distinguished citizens as well. I picked
    a man from central Florida, from Orlando, to be my Secretary of Housing
    and Urban Development, and that's Mr. Mel Martinez. I appreciate you coming, Mel. Mel told me he volunteered
    here. He and his wife, Kitty, used to come by
    to help people here, and it was kind of old home week for him. But he's
    doing a fabulous job. And it's hard to take a young family out of such a
    beautiful part of the world and sacrifice and move to Washington. But
    Mel made that decision, and the country's better off for it.
        I want to thank the two United States Senators for traveling with me
    today, Senator Bob Graham and Senator Bill
    Nelson. I want to thank them for their--
    [applause]. I particularly want to thank Senator Graham for his
    leadership on the Intelligence Committee. During this time where America
    is at war, intelligence is--gathering of intelligence is incredibly
    important, and I appreciate the way he has led that committee. It gives
    me great confidence to know that Bob Graham is there making sure we do
    everything we can to collect as much intelligence as possible to protect
    Americans. And so Senator, I want to thank you for your leadership on
    that issue.
        I want to thank Congressman Ric Keller for
    traveling with us as well. Ric's one of the bright stars in the United
    States Congress. I appreciate you, Rick. Mike Bilirakis flew down with us, but he probably thought he had to
    hear me give a speech, so he went somewhere else. [Laughter] But Mike's
    a good friend and a good man.
        I'm honored that your mayor, Glenda Hood,
    came by to say hello. Madam Mayor, I'm pleased--appreciate you being
    here. And with her as well is Orange County Chairman Rich
    Crotty. Rich has been a friend of mine for a
    long time. And I want to thank Julie for--Julie Graf for inviting us here. I'm here to talk about--
    [applause]. Thank you, Julie.
        I want to give you a quick update about how I see the world, and
    then I want to talk a little bit about the health initiative that we're
    here to herald. You know, we love freedom in America, and we hold
    freedom dear. And obviously that has irritated some people who hate
    freedom. And that is why they've made the decision in the past to attack
    us and why they're probably trying to figure out a way to do it again.
        They must have thought we were weak. They must have thought we were
    really a feeble country. But they're learning differently. You see, when
    it comes to the defense of freedom, we're strong and we're plenty tough.
    And when it comes to the defense of our homeland, we're plenty tough. I
    just want to assure you that the country's united and determined. And
    I'm determined to do everything in my power to keep America safe.
        I appreciate the spirit in Washington, DC, of both Republicans and
    Democrats. When we talk about the homeland security, it's not a
    Republican issue. It is not a Democrat issue. It is an American issue.

    [[Page 1039]]

        I am sure you--certain that you've heard about this Homeland
    Security Department I intend to create. It is to streamline
    decisionmaking so everybody is on the same page when it comes to
    protecting the homeland. We've got to change cultures of agencies which,
    before September the 11th weren't that focused on homeland security. And
    you can understand why; we hadn't been attacked for a long time. And now
    it's time to reorganize and readjust and set the most important priority
    of all, which is to keep America safe. And I look forward to working
    with the Congress and the Senate on what is a difficult task, but a task
    that I'm confident that, when we keep the--keep the American people in
    mind, we can get done.
        But the best defense for America is to chase the killers down one by
    one and bring them to justice, which is precisely what America will do.
    It's a different kind of war. I'm confident there are some World War II
    veterans or Korean war veterans here, and I want to thank you for your
    service. It's a war for freedom, but it's a different kind of war.
        Today--in the last 24 hours, the Philippine Government, which had
    made a concerted effort to find terrorists in their country--the
    terrorists who, by the way, kidnaped two Americans, the Burnhams--today
    announced that the head of the group, this extreme group of killers, met
    his fate. And I want to congratulate the President of the
    Philippines. I appreciate her
    leadership and her strength. It goes to show that by assembling a vast
    coalition of freedom-loving countries, that when we work together and
    are strong and are diligent, we can succeed, and that's what's going to
    happen.
        I not only work to make sure that America is a safer place, I want
    to work to make sure that America is a better place as well. One of the
    initiatives that we talked about the last time I was in Florida, one of
    the last times, was called the USA Freedom Corps. I encourage people to
    serve their neighbor by volunteering, by becoming involved in their
    communities. We talked about a Senior Corps that can make a huge
    difference in people's lives all across Florida and all across the
    country. I believe serving somebody in need is an integral part of the
    American experience.
        Today I had the honor of meeting Marie Wieland. She came--where are you, Marie? There she is. Thank you
    for coming. She came out to the airport today. She stood underneath the
    great seal of the Air Force One to have her picture with me, because she
    has been an extraordinary volunteer in your community. She's heard the
    call to help a neighbor in need. She's involved with the community care
    for the elderly. She's been involved with the Children Home Society of
    Florida. All her life, she has set an example by serving in the army of
    compassion. You see, our society can change one heart, one soul, one
    conscience at a time. And for those of you like Marie, who are
    volunteering and helping make America a better place, I want to thank
    you from the bottom of my heart. And thank you, Marie, for being here.
        Generally, when we come to Florida to talk to senior citizens, we're
    talking about Medicare. I look forward to working with the Congress to
    get a Medicare plan that is modern, up to date, with prescription drugs.
    But I want to talk about another way, another way to encourage a healthy
    America.
        Yesterday I unveiled, right there on the South Lawn, what we call a
    HealthierUS. It is an initiative to encourage young and old alike to
    live healthier and longer lives by paying attention to four guideposts.
    First, people should be physically active every day. Secondly, people
    should develop good eating habits. Let me put it another way. You need
    to eat your vegetables--[laughter]--and your fruits. We've been working
    on Dad for a while on the broccoli issue. [Laughter]
        People need to be conscious of their diet. They need to be careful
    not to be

    [[Page 1040]]

    loading up with fatty foods all the time. If you want to have a healthy
    life, you've got to be careful of what you eat. People need to take
    advantage of preventative screenings to detect early whether or not
    there's a likelihood of disease, so you can do something about it. And
    finally, in order to have a healthy life, you shouldn't smoke, drink
    excessively, or do drugs. In other words, those are choices you can make
    to make sure you've got a healthy life.
        The amazing thing about America is that we're doing a good job on
    chronic diseases, and people are living longer and longer lives. And
    that's incredibly positive. But we've all got to work to improve. We can
    all do better.
        And age need not be an indicator of health, as I witnessed in the
    spinning class. [Laughter] There are a lot of youth that couldn't spin
    like those spinners were spinning. [Laughter]
        We need to make healthy choices no matter how old we are. And a
    simple and effective way to do this is to really focus on exercise.
        Jeb mentioned I'm in pretty good condition
    because I exercise nearly every day. Laura
    exercises nearly every day. And I feel better for it. I sleep better. I
    eat better. I'm a lot more pleasant fellow to be around after I
    exercise. [Laughter] And I encourage all Americans to do so.
        Not enough older Americans are exercising, however. I want to share
    this statistic with you: In fact, nearly 70 percent of individuals in
    our country age 65 to 74 do not engage in regular physical activity. And
    that can be changed pretty quickly. Listen, just a stroll in the park
    for a reasonable period of time is exercise, and it's good for you. If
    people just walked 20 to 30 minutes a day, it would change life
    expectancy, your life expectancy. It would improve your healthy
    conditions. The Department of Health and Human Services has been
    reporting on the health of America, and they confirm that older
    Americans have more to gain from regular exercise than younger Americans
    do. That makes sense.
        And so, today I want to continue on my message of encouraging
    America to make healthy choices by encouraging our seniors to exercise
    on a regular basis--exercise just like we saw here in this fabulous
    center; listen to people or seek advice as to how to keep up your heart
    rate and increase your breathing; work on your flexibility. It will make
    a tremendous difference, and it doesn't take much. It doesn't take much.
        We can make a significant difference in the cumulative health costs
    all around America by encouraging young and old alike to exercise. If we
    can get people exercising and pushing away from lousy diets, we'll
    decrease the amount of incidents of heart disease by a significant
    number. If we can get some of our young to stop watching TV as much as
    they do and get outside and enjoy, it will promote the habits for a
    healthy life for a long time coming. I urge moms and dads to exercise
    with their kids, to go out in the backyard and kick a soccer ball or
    throw a baseball. It will be good for your family; it will also be good
    for setting good habits for your children. Physical exercise, whether it
    be walking or gardening, walking up and down the stairs, can have a
    significant impact all across America.
        I say societies can change one soul, one person at a time. If each
    person makes a dedicated effort to exercise more, you'll be serving your
    Nation. The accumulative effect will be incredibly positive for America.
        And what a nation you'll be serving. I want you to tell your
    grandchildren or your children, the young of America, that this great
    Nation stands for peace; that this Nation, as we defend our freedom, we
    do so to keep the peace; that we're a nation that is compassionate and
    decent. When we unleash our military, we do so not as conquerors but to
    liberate people from the clutches of a barbaric regime such as the
    Taliban, that was so repressive they

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    wouldn't even let young girls go to school. That when they hear their
    President talking about chasing this person down or that, he does so
    because he wants the children to grow up in a peaceful world and to
    realize the freedoms that we've realized. He does so because we defend
    civilization itself, and we have the obligation to do so.
        We're making progress in the war against terror. It's going to take
    a while, but America understands that it's going to take a while. And
    for that, I'm grateful. And as importantly, we're making progress in
    showing the world the compassionate face of America as well. Hundreds of
    thousands of our fellow citizens are loving a neighbor just like they'd
    be liked--just like they'd like to be loved themselves. And that's good.
    Out of the evil done to America is going to come incredible good,
    because we're such a good nation.
        Thank you for coming today. And may God bless you all, and may God
    bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in the ballroom. In his remarks,
    he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Julie Graf, site supervisor,
    Marks Street Senior Recreation Complex; Abu Sabaya, a leader of the Abu
    Sayyaf terrorist group who was killed June 21 by Philippine military
    forces; and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines.