“I got into this work so many years ago. I went to work for the Children's Defense Fund right out of law school. I spent my time trying to figure out how to even the odds for all kids. And the reason I did that was because of my own mother.

I didn't know it when I was just a little girl, but I learned as I got older that my mother was abandoned and neglected by her parents, and pretty much left on her own, then, at the age of 8, holding her three-year-old sister's hand she was put on a train by themselves to live with grandparents. And it turned out, the grandparents didn't really want her either and so by the age of 14, she was working in a house as a maid and a babysitter.

But here's what I want you to know. It sounds pretty harsh, it was difficult, but it made a profound impression on her life. I think my mom who lived to the wonderful age of 92, and I don't think a day went by that she didn't think of being abandoned and being sent away and pretty much left on her own.

But, along the way people were kind to her. People helped her. The first grade teacher who brought lunch for her every day because my mom never had any. The woman whose house she went to work in all those years ago knew my mother wanted to go to high school so she said to her, 'Dorothy, I know you want to go to high school. If you get up early and get all your chores done, you can go to high school. Now you'll have to come right back home.'

That might sound kind of unfortunate, but for my mom it was a gift, because she really wanted to go to high school. So my mother always cared about other people, and she taught me in every way she could that nobody, nobody is better than anybody else. And we need to show each other more kindness and support, and the last thing we need in our country is more bullies making people feel bad about themselves and pushing people away.

We should be drawing people toward us, creating the kind of future we want for all of our children. That's what I think about if I am so fortunate to become President. I think about waking up in the White House every morning trying to figure out what I can do to help someone else.”