[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 49 (Monday, December 11, 1995)]
[Pages 2143-2144]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Lighting the National Christmas Tree

December 6, 1995

    Thank you so much. To John Betchkal, the Pageant of Peace Chairman; 
Reverend John Tavlarides; to the Sherando High School Choir, 
congratulations, you guys were great tonight; to Brendan and Bridget 
Walsh; the Washington Ballet; to Denyce Graves and Jack Jones and Kathie 
Lee Gifford, and the Navy Band; and of course, to Santa Claus. I would 
come here every year just to see Santa Claus.
    We gather to begin our Nation's celebration of the Christmas season 
with the lighting of this magnificent tree, a symbol, as evergreens have 
always been, of the infinite capacity of nature and people to renew 
themselves. We give gifts, and we count our blessings.
    My fellow Americans, I have just returned from a very moving trip to 
Europe, to England and to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, 
to Germany to see our troops, and to Spain. And I can tell you that 
among the things that I feel most grateful for at this Christmas time is 
the way people around the

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world look at our America. They see a nation graced by peace and 
prosperity, a land of freedom and fairness. And even though it imposes 
extra burdens on us, they trust us to work with them to share the 
blessings of peace.
    This is my second Christmas tree lighting of the season, for just a 
few days ago I was in Belfast with the people of Northern Ireland, 
Protestant and Catholic alike, searching, yearning, longing for peace, 
celebrating their second Christmas of peace. I'm proud that I was 
introduced there by two children, a little Catholic girl named Catherine 
Hamill, and a young Protestant boy named David Sterritt, who joined 
hands and told the world of their hopes for the future, a future in 
which the only barriers they face are the limits of their dreams. That 
is the future we should want for our children and for all the children 
of the world.
    I'm very pleased that Catherine Hamill, who touched the whole world 
with the story of her suffering and her family's losses in Northern 
Ireland, and her family are here with us tonight to celebrate this 
lighting of the Christmas tree. And I'd like to ask her to stand up 
right down here and ask all of you to give her a fine hand. She has come 
all the way from Northern Ireland.
    Remember at this Christmas time we celebrate the birth of a homeless 
child, whose only shelter was the straw of a manger, but who grew to 
become the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace said, ``Blessed are the 
peacemakers.'' Let us bless the peacemakers at this Christmas time from 
the Middle East to Northern Ireland to our own troops in Bosnia. Let us 
pray especially for our peacemakers, those who will go to Bosnia and 
those who are soon to come home from Haiti.
    And let us resolve, my fellow Americans, to be peacemakers. For just 
as so many nations around the world and so many children around the 
world cry for peace, so do we need peace here at home in our toughest 
neighborhoods, where there are children, so many children who deserve to 
have their childhood and their future free and peaceful.
    And let us remember from the example of the Prince of Peace how even 
the humblest of us can do, through acts of goodness and reconciliation, 
extraordinary things. And as we light this wonderful Christmas tree, let 
us all remember that together a million small lights add up to make a 
great blaze of glory, not for ourselves but for our families, our Nation 
and the world, and for the future of our children.
    Merry Christmas, and blessed are the peacemakers.

Note: The President spoke at 5:45 p.m. on the Ellipse during the annual 
Christmas Pageant of Peace. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. John 
Tavlarides, who recited the Christmas prayer; Brendan and Bridget Walsh, 
Camp Fire Boys and Girls, Pittsburgh, PA; entertainers Denyce Graves, 
Jack Jones, and Kathie Lee Gifford; and television weatherman Willard 
Scott.