[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 25, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 62941-62942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31219]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 25, 1997 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 62941]]
Proclamation 7054 of November 21, 1997
National Family Week, 1997
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
As we approach the end of the 21st century, our world
is becoming increasingly complex, our society more
mobile, and our pace of life more rapid. It is at times
like this, full of dynamic challenge and change, that
we need to remember the fundamental values and
institutions that strengthen and uplift us. Among the
most precious of these are our families.
Families come in many forms and sizes. They can number
several generations or only one; they can include birth
parents and stepparents, foster children and adopted
children. Families are created by ties of blood or law,
but they are sustained by ties of love and caring.
Few people in our lives will have so profound an effect
on us as our family members. From the day we are born,
the people who live with us, nurture us, and guide us
play a crucial role in shaping the kind of men and
women we become. They challenge us to look beyond
ourselves and to respect and care for others. At their
best, they help us to be our best. Families are the
most basic--and the most important--unit of our
society.
Recognizing this, we realize that many of our dreams
for America begin with strong families. We want to be a
caring people, and the lessons of tolerance, sharing,
and compassion are best taught in the home. We want to
be a peaceful people, and we look to families to teach
our young people how to respect one another's
differences and resolve disputes without resorting to
violence. We want to be wise people, so we need
families that value education and acknowledge the
importance of lifelong learning.
Nothing is more important to our future than preserving
and promoting strong, loving families. This week, as we
gather with our own families to celebrate Thanksgiving,
let us resolve to do all we can as individuals, and as
a Nation to help families who are in need, to provide
support and encouragement for troubled families, and to
promote policies at the local, State, and Federal level
that will help America's families to flourish.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim November 23 through November
29, 1997, as National Family Week. I call upon Federal,
State, and local officials to honor American families
with appropriate programs and activities; I encourage
educators, community organizations, and religious
leaders to celebrate the strength and values we draw
from family relationships; and I urge all the people of
the United States to reaffirm their family ties and to
reach out to others in friendship and goodwill.
[[Page 62942]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 97-31219
Filed 11-24-97; 11:55 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
