Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Remarks by Ernie Banks Lyrics
I look at my life. I look back, and, "What have I done?" And I think that we all do that as we get older in life. We look at, "What have I done?" "What have I accomplished?" "What have I changed?" "What is the difference that I made in people's lives?" And I think about baseball. I mean, America's greatest pastime, and maybe that's it, you know: hit the baseball, going to catch it, playing against another team, playing against other players, and then it's over.
And what have I really done? I mean, they show the records, you won MVP awards, you did this, you did that.
So, it's very special as I think about it, in my life. What in the world have I done to receive this wonderful honor as one of the greatest citizens in this country?
Do something with your life, do something. Get out here and do something. That's my next message to young people.
Education was one of my precious things. I went back to school after I retired. I went to Northwestern, University of Chicago, Arizona State, Columbia College. It was just a voracious appetite to learn, you know, get knowledge. Science, technology, engineering, and math -- STEM program, they call it. And I want to train kids in math and science in high school to be good enough to go to MIT and become a nuclear physicist. That's my thinking: train young people that are good in math and science, and they should be, to go to MIT to become a nuclear physicist to save this world.
And what have I really done? I mean, they show the records, you won MVP awards, you did this, you did that.
So, it's very special as I think about it, in my life. What in the world have I done to receive this wonderful honor as one of the greatest citizens in this country?
Do something with your life, do something. Get out here and do something. That's my next message to young people.
Education was one of my precious things. I went back to school after I retired. I went to Northwestern, University of Chicago, Arizona State, Columbia College. It was just a voracious appetite to learn, you know, get knowledge. Science, technology, engineering, and math -- STEM program, they call it. And I want to train kids in math and science in high school to be good enough to go to MIT and become a nuclear physicist. That's my thinking: train young people that are good in math and science, and they should be, to go to MIT to become a nuclear physicist to save this world.