Ladies and Gentlemen, normally, as you know, at a luncheon of this kind it would be my Denis Thatcherhusband who would be here, and not me. Sometimes it would be both of us. But today he is visiting our Troops in Germany, an undertaking that he had promised to do several months ago and so I am here. I am not sure whether as me, or as a deputy. But in both cases I am very delighted to be here.
I want to say thank you and congratulations to three groups of people. First, to our hosts Mil Company, who have sponsored this luncheon and sponsored so much else for the disabled. We are immensely grateful. We, in this country, are learning so much from the United States who have learned that both companies and people are very much part of your community, sometimes part of the local community, sometimes part of your particular sector of the national community, and as they prosper from the community so they are giving back to the community in very special ways.
The United States are still ahead of us, but we are catching up. And I am so grateful to those, whether it be business in the community or to people who do this kind of sponsorship, that we too are becoming an example of a generous society where industry, business, commerce, people, sports, the arts, the schools, education, are all part of a country of which we are very proud. So thank you very much for the sponsorship you give, particularly to this cause.
Second, I have to congratulate and join others in having congratulated all the Olympic winners, whether in the ordinary Olympics or in the Para-Olympics. We are immensely proud of you. We'd like you to have enough sponsorship to be able not to be worried and that is extremely important. These people need sponsorship, they need training, they need facilities, they need not to have to worry whether or not they are going [end p1] to have enough money to get through. And it is our job, partly the taxpayer, partly the sponsor, partly to personal gifts, to see that they have that so that they can really concentrate on the task in hand. And sometimes, although we might think we are doing very well compared with last year, or the previous year or the previous Olympics, you know we don't have to compare our own performance with our past performance, we have to compare what we are doing for our sportsmen in this country with what other people are doing for the sportsmen in their country. And I have very great sympathy for the industrialist who said in one particular capacity, “When I think I am doing well I know I am comparing myself with the wrong person” .
… . if you are doing well in giving sponsorship just make certain we are comparing ourselves with the best overseas, so that we give our people an extra asset and take away from them the worry so that they may concentrate on what matters most of all.
And the third thing. I have to say such warm congratulations and thanks to those who competed in the Para-Olympics and who did so magnificently and to all who helped them. We have a very special thank you to say to them. Because in addition to their abilities, which are very considerable otherwise they couldn't have done it, they have to cope with disability. That requires what? A very special kind of courage. Now I have seen courage over many many years. I have seen courage from people who have had accidents, who have disabilities thrust upon them, who had to have courage to recover. I have seen a child taking its first steps from a disability. That required courage, it required the encouragement and personal interest of other people. Believe you me, whenever I am talking to young people one always said that courage is the ultimate virtue, and perhaps the most difficult one. It is your first great asset. It is the last to leave you. And the people who have it in supreme amount are those who are disabled but who manage to achieve great things. Thank you.