Dear people present here!

Some things it is important to see with your own eyes. You saw what the city of Haapsalu looked like today. It had been tidied up for Victory Day. It is also tidy at other times. But today, it looks especially festive, and not just because of the sunshine, because the sun also shines at other days. I was deeply moved by several factors coinciding here: first of all our Victory Day, our Midsummer Eve, and our home decoration, which has really gained pace by now. And I do not want to deny this - I was also moved by the fact that flags are flying in the city. We have, from the Soviet times, somehow brought with us a somewhat slovenly attitude, which has spread all over country like leaven - an attitude also towards our own country, which sometimes tends to overcast the country itself - we are somehow unable to appreciate this beautiful day. We can all look back into our own childhood, as the County Governor said just now. And then suddenly we understand how important some person, some event, some quality handed down to us by our parents has been in our lives. We seldom think of the fact that tomorrow, this day will already belong to the past. That we must not postpone doing today what our modest resources already enable us to do. You saw the face of the city of Haapsalu today. It is as quiet as it has always been, as sunny as it has always been; but somehow especially gentle and beautiful under the flags of the Republic of Estonia. This is, to my mind, a fitting beginning for our Home Decoration Day.

Also, I would like to say that I and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could have thought a little more and done a couple of things better. You have a lot of guests today. But I am not certain whether you have been told that you have been visited by the most important British Sea Lord, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Navy. Probably, in the future I and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have the obligation to present to the people visiting the city also to the townspeople. You know several Ambassadors by face, although not all of them, and they too must be introduced. And yet I regret a little that on this nice little square that was so thickly lined with people, I did not think of introducing all these guests to the townspeople as it is customary in a good family.

What else did I think about?

I am grateful to the Home Daughters who have made a beautiful wreath of oak leaves to decorate the rostrum. But the wreath was used elsewhere. Maybe this was indeed a better idea. But you see, if children make a wreath, knowing that it will be set on the rostrum, it would perhaps be better to give them reason for delight. We are not making a performance here, and we do not want children to be disappointed.

Estonians are known as a singing nation. And in fact singing has helped us in hard times to preserve our hopes, and singing has broken the ice for the big ship of the Republic of Estonia, if we recall the Singing Revolution. And again, in front of the railway station, when I could feel the whole city embracing us, and especially embracing with gentle care and consideration the young boys and girls who had decided to serve the Republic of Estonia in the name of Estonian security. Having this strong feeling of the whole city having come together, I would also have liked the whole city to sing the national anthem of the Republic of Estonia. What kind of a singing nation are we, if we can not even manage that? And next year we will. I do not yet know where we are going to arrange it, but we will.

I do not think I have much to add to the words of the County Governor, as his words were very much to the point. The future is just what we have planted in these small boys and girls who are today looking at us, running up front, asking questions, and trying to shake hands - in 10-20 years they will already be shaping our life, building houses, building new streets, joining the Defence Forces or serving the state in other ways.

I think that home decorating is not a task for the state, it is not a campaign, it is something to make our own lives, our own families more beautiful. It is something that creates a basis for a strengthening family. A strong family cares for its home not because it has cost them so and so much, but because they know how much work is contained in each wall, how much trouble it has taken to plant a bush or a tree. How much watering the lawn needs before it gets rooted. How much weeding is necessary so that a flower would have space to blossom and breathe. And this goes for all the country. The state is nothing else but a big cluster of Estonian homes. If we keep Estonian homes tidy, we will also keep our state tidy. And I mean this in the broadest possible sense. We must keep our state clean of corruption, and laziness, and the habit to put everything off till tomorrow. We have all these proverbs don't we?

On this beautiful Midsummer Eve we have a thousand pennants going to a thousand families to recognise their tidying care for their homes. There is a difference between a pennant and a flag. A pennant is a symbol belonging to the family, and you yourselves will decide how to use it. The flag of the Republic of Estonia is a national flag, and you will keep it hoisted from dawn till dusk. Only once in a year will it remain hoisted for the whole night, night and day, and this is on the Midsummer Eve as you know. And I still remember how glad I was when I had said this sentence on a meeting, it was recorded and will remain so. A pennant can not replace a flag, so today all those who have a flagpole will of course hoist the flag of the Republic of Estonia. Tomorrow night you can hoist the pennant.

Something unusual has happened. The prize for the most beautiful home went to a small village. And this is the Turbuneeme village in the Harju County. Every morning, the Turbuneeme housewives walk around the village and see to it that there is no garbage lying around. This is not a lot of trouble. Maybe this is no trouble at all.

These days, it has become a habit for me always to pick up a cigarette butt and put it in my pocket when walking in my garden. Let us do this, so that we all become accustomed to leaving nothing lying around. And Estonia will be clean in a jiffy!

And of course, I am going to visit that village and want to say something to every housewife, although I do not yet know what. Probably just thank you for setting an example to the rest of Estonia. Nothing more.

The weather is too beautiful for long speeches. This is all from my part.

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