President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech likely won’t stand the test of time. There were no catchy phrases of inaugurals past, such as “all we have to fear is fear itself,” or “the torch is passed to a new generation.”

But in a very real way, Obama touched each of those things that is community as far away as Selma.

He spoke of the crisis in which this nation exists. He spoke of our nation at war against “a network of violence and hatred.” Certainly, each of us can roll off the names of friends and relatives from this area who are serving or who have served in the war against terror. All of us have felt the brunt of our badly weakened economy to which our new leader referred. We see those daily, from the down times and questions about Bush Hog, one of the area’s largest employers, to the closing of the cigar factory only months ago.

But here in Selma and Dallas County, we hold to those values, in Obama’s words, “hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.”

We celebrate the call of our president to return to those truths in a new era of responsibility. This is who we are as a people. These are our values and they will see us through.