[Aren Siekmeier]

From listening to the many speeches that are given each year about how FIRST is going to make a difference in our country and make us competitive, bring us back to the top, and make us the leaders, I think I can conclude that I stand well off the party line in this regard.

I'd like to encourage everyone not to think in terms of national boundaries, national identity, and which country is leading. Perhaps this did (and perhaps it still does) play into FIRST's mission as they market it to all of us; it's not a bad idea, since there are people who are willing to give their support when they see it that way. But let's remember that the core values of FIRST are gracious professionalism and coopertition. Ok, so these are just words. But they mean a lot to me. They mean that the best teams in FIRST aren't worried about maintaining their status as much as they are about helping everyone else. They mean that everyone is committed to cooperation before competition. It has been a long long time since anyone could pretend that we are isolated from the rest of the world. There's no getting around the fact that the Internet, air travel, international trade, etc. are all going to bring us face to face with people from all over the world more and more. We are all one community, living on the same planet, and interacting with each other quite a lot. So we can choose to be enemies, be distrustful of each other, and withhold things from each other. Or we can choose to work together and help each other out. It's not just about bringing others up so that you can benefit. It's about the kind of global community you want to live in.

For me, this is the most powerful message of FIRST, that people can come together and work together to achieve so much, and leave old rivalries, grudges, and hard feelings behind. When people talk about culture change, this is what I hope for.