January 4, 2001

A TIME TO PLANT

Mr. Chief Justice, President Mansell, Speaker Stephens, and my fellow Utahns:

The first Governor of Utah I met personally was George Dewey Clyde. Mrs. Proctor, my cub scout leader, took us to the El Escalante Hotel in Cedar City, and I remember standing there in my cub scout uniform, a little nervous, waiting to meet him. He shook my hand and I remember how small my hand felt in his. That meeting holds more significance for me today because I now understand that handshake from his perspective. I rarely stand in the governor's office, deliver a speech or meet a cub scout and not feel a deep sense of gratitude for the privilege of occupying this trust. I stand here today, once again, in your service.

Like the others who took this oath of office today, my service is carried out in this building. It is a place of reverence for me. Looking around me tonight--the murals, statues, paintings and architecture weave together to tell a story of rugged explorers, pioneers carving out a life in the desert. Brigham Young striding into a new frontier. Martha Hughes Cannon, a guardian of health care and America's first female state senator. The history of Utah lives here. It is a story of hard work, independent spirit, and remarkable accomplishment.

As an 11-year old boy, I came here with my father, who was a member of the Legislature. While he was in session I would roam these halls, studying the people in the paintings and reading the plaques on the monuments. I explored the places that go unnoticed-- the hallways and back rooms where pictures of legislators are displayed, the men and women that have served this state. Each one carried the hopes of their community to this place and performed the service of the people.

At noon today, we placed another symbol deep within the granite of this building. A time capsule, to be opened on Statehood Day, 100 years from now. Among the contents of the capsule is a handful of acorns. I gathered these acorns as I stood at the gravsite of an ancestor one rainy day last September. Sheltered by the branches of an old oak tree, I bowed my head in respect and saw them lying there at my feet. For more than a hundred years, I thought, trees have come and gone in this grove, each aging oak replaced by the seeds that fell at its side. Each one holds within it a record of the past and a promise for the future. The words of Ecclesiastes came to my mind, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up..." As I gathered the acorns that day I thought, "This is a time to plant."

Our moment in history will be defined by great demands and sweeping changes. The future is one of global economy and digital speed, new technologies that create new jobs, and eliminate others overnight. But with uncertainty comes opportunity, so let optimism abound. Utah is young, education-minded, and tech-savvy. We are growing, both in population and prosperity. In this century, let us be admired not just for our natural beauty, but for our bandwidth.

Our collective aspirations are noble: building universities, supporting the arts, caring for the needy. All these flow from the well of economic prosperity. Let Utah be a center for entrepreneurship and innovation, with opportunity for everyone, whether in Salt Lake or Salina, Mantua or Moab.

Fundamental to our success is the institution of the family. Family is the root system that keeps us stable in the winds of change. In this classroom children learn about hard work, moral courage and responsibility. Let Utah always be known as a defender of families.

We sow the seeds of future success through our children. We have doubled our investment in education in the past ten years. We will double it again and quicken the pace of education while preserving every child's quiet moment of discovery in a book.

Let us nurture a new environmental activism based on problem solving rather than political divisiveness, collaboration rather than confrontation. No society can prosper without energy, water, food or highways. Successful stewardship of our resources requires balance between the needs of this generation and the needs of the next. We need twice the environmental progress, but at half the cost. Let us move toward balance by governing from the ideological center, not the marginal extremes.

Our republic rests on the fulcrum of checks and balances, and the states play an essential role. Let us never forget that it is our constitutional duty to limit the reach of the federal government. These are our rights: to govern our schools, to define and shape our local communities, and to control our property and our roads.

Let us be the guardians of the water and the air, protectors of the land, keepers of the peace. Let Utah be safe from those who would rob and steal. Let us be a sanctuary for children abused by their protectors.

We will incarcerate the pushers of poisons, and we will help those caught in the cycle of addiction to escape. And let it be known that there is another poison Utah will not tolerate: high level nuclear waste. We don't produce it, we don't benefit from it, and we refuse to store it for those who do.

Four hundred days from now, at this very hour, the Olympic torch will arrive at Rice-Eccles stadium and Utah will step onto the world's stage. We need to be at our best, but most of all, we need to be ourselves.

The Olympic flame starts simply in Greece--as sunlight--magnified until it bursts into flame. When the Games begin, and Utah is under the magnifying glass of the world, we will light the fire within and shine when it matters most.

What a privilege it is for us to have been invited by destiny to witness this new century. To everything there is a season... While we enjoy our time of harvest, let us remember our time to plant.

Sincerely,

Governor Michael O. Leavitt
Fourteenth Governor of Utah