Martin Sheen, as President Jed Bartlet, giving a rousing speech from the West Wing at a book event.

[Applause] thank you so much I can sense a civic duty a mile away it's something we passed on something with a history so that we can say my father gave this to me and his father gave it to him and now I'm giving it to you but it seems to me that more and more we've come to expect less and less from each other and I think that's got to change so how do we end this cycle be subject to one another if a guy is a good neighbor if he puts on if he puts in a day if every once in a while he laughs if every once in a while he thinks about somebody else and above all if he can find his way to compassion and tolerance that he is my brother so where are we going to what's next well what's next is this get in the game you can make a substantial contribution and if you if you go down swinging at least you took your shot just don't ever watch the Pitch go by joy cometh in the morning scripture tells us that and I hope it is right because I don't know if life would be worth living if it didn't if it wasn't because there is evil in the world there always will be evil in the world and we can't do anything about that now the streets of Heaven are crowded with angels they are our student students and our teachers and our parents and our friends yet the true measure of a people's strength and this is what's next is how they rise to master that moment when an unexpected challenge or tragedy arrives unfortunately we learn these lessons the hard way there violence in our schools too much Mayhem in our culture but we can do something about that there aren't enough teachers in our classrooms there aren't nearly enough there isn't nearly enough not nearly enough not nearly enough money in our classrooms and we can do something about that run for a seat on your local school board advocate for Budget increases get in the game what will be the next thing that challenges us that makes us work harder and go farther global warming constitutes a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of this planet and all of its inhabitants if that concerns you get in the game if you're off the charts tired of the gun lobby tossing around words like personal freedom and nobody's calling them on it get in the game and remind the NRA that the gun safety laws are not trying to take the guns away they are trying to stop the guns from taking our children [Applause] away what are you concerned about election security civil rights or veterans issues healthc care of homelessness choice and spend the next 10 weeks organizing a voter registration Drive get in the game and get out the boat my great great-grandfather's great-grandfather was Dr Josiah B he was the New Hampshire delegate representing the second continental congress the one that sat in session in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776 and announced to the world that we were no longer subjects of The Good Old King George III but rather a self-governing people we hold these truths to be self-evident they said that all men are created equal and strange as that may seem that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write those words down decisions are made by those who show up now they're telling me that uh we're almost out of time here so here's your homework the end of the day you really have to ask yourself what are you thinking about the answer tomorrow don't stop thinking about tomorrow there's a promise that I ask everyone here who works here to make to make never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world you know why it's the only thing that ever happens this is the time for American Heroes this is the time to do what is hard to achieve what is great to run Into the Fire to run into the fire and reach for the stars however you reach for the stars in your corner of the universe however you get in the game please believe me when I tell you it does make a difference you're going to open your mouth and lift houses off the ground whole houses clean off the ground yes and you can help lift up this nation and all its people to that place where the heart is without fear and the head is held high where knowledge is free where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls where words come out from truth and tireless striving stretches its arms towards Perfection with a clear stream of Reason has not lost its way into the dreary Desert Sands of dead habit where the mind is Led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action into that heaven of Freedom dear father let our country awake thank you [Applause]