Young Honors Jim Morris in Floor Speech
**Click here or above to watch Senator Young’s floor speech.**
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) spoke on the Senate floor about the life and legacy of Jim Morris, one of the most influential civic leaders in Indiana’s history.
In his remarks, Young spoke about Jim’s incredible life and passion for helping fellow Hoosiers.
To watch the full floor speech, click here.
Senator Young’s full remarks are below:
Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the life and legacy of Jim Morris. Jim Morris is one of the most influential civic leaders in Indiana’s history and he passed away earlier this month.
I first met Jim Morris about 20 years ago – It was when I returned home to Indiana after spending time in the military and after a brief stint as a staffer here on Capitol Hill.
The only thing I remember about that initial meeting was that it wasn’t particularly memorable.
Jim Morris wasn’t the kind of man who would bowl you over with his charisma or magnetism. This wasn’t his style. It was never about him.
But over time, the weight of continuous heartfelt interactions with Jim could change a person. Indeed, you might say they changed an entire city.
Jim Morris died July 12. He was 81. He had a 60-year career of service, all told, to the city of Indianapolis, the State of Indiana, and even to the world.
And though Jim would balk at the title “model,” in my mind, he was in many ways a model American citizen.
Jim grew up in Terre Haute. He attended Indiana University. It was there that he fell in love twice – once with the school itself, and once with his beloved wife Jackie, and that endured.
In 1967, not long after graduation, he became Chief of Staff to a young mayor of Indianapolis named Richard Lugar.
Since that moment, almost nothing great in our capitol city happened without Jim’s involvement.
He helped launch a university in downtown Indianapolis – until recently known as IUPUI.
He was involved with the building of the Indianapolis Zoo.
The Indianapolis Colts.
The Indiana Pacers.
They all had Jim’s fingerprints on them.
Jim understood the key to healthy organizations and healthy communities was to connect and empower others and ensure that seriousness of purpose was met with civil discourse.
In 2002, Jim took that approach global, when he was appointed to lead the United Nations World Food Programme.
He served as Executive Director of the program for five years, caring for and delivering aid to men, women, and children around the world who experience a level of poverty that is difficult for us to imagine.
These monumental, headline-grabbing accomplishments were only part of who Jim Morris was, though.
Indeed, his true legacy was far deeper, more personal, and I dare say more beautiful.
He always counseled friends to expand their work to its widest possible sphere of impact. Help more people, or as he sometimes put it, find someone who could use a boost.
He practiced what he preached.
Indeed, countless Hoosiers have been affected by the smaller acts of altruism – funding local food banks, building neighborhood basketball courts, and similar generosities that we’ll never know about.
His servant’s heart no doubt stemmed from his deep and abiding faith in God.
He was an active member at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, and he didn’t boast about his many accomplishments.
Instead, he lived a life worthy of the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 20: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be a servant.”
A servant.
I think about our forgettable first meeting often.
I could be wrong, but Jim probably would have made a poor candidate for public office today.
But, you see that was a choice.
For me, Reverend Henry summed it up at Second Pres. last Friday in his memorial meditation to Jim. He said that Jim Morris chose…
He chose hope over despair.
Connection over division.
Gentleness over meanness.
Courtesy over discourtesy.
There’s power in that choice.
Jim Morris chose to be a decent man. He knew, and we must never forget, that no man can truly be great if he’s not good.
Now more than ever we need good men and women like Jim Morris in every corner of our nation.
Men and women who become great through selfless service to their communities and endeavor to make life better for the rest of us.