David Thomas: “I think I will just tell the gentleman that it was far more fundamental than that, and it was that common physical labor…”

“I think I will just tell the gentleman that it was far more fundamental than that, and it was that common physical labor is not a high achievement and that we never, even to this day, recognize the fact that without it we would not have what we have today. The thing I like most about this, given the discussion, the participants, and the reflection on history, is that one of the fundamentals of democracy is in the inherent belief that an individual is worth something simply because they are alive and that what we are doing here is celebrating the obvious acknowledgment of our shared humanity in the best way we can in reaching back and telling those people, thank you, thank you very much for that basic physical labor that produced the opportunity, as Mr. Davis so eloquently indicated, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Holmes) indicated, we forget about. So it is in the shared humanity of our recognition that I think we can all share and appreciate.”