[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

[[Page 1041]]

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.