Words
by apprentice wordsmith David L Lewis
August 28 2023 is 60th anniversary of what this writer believes to be greatest oration in history of electronic recording, the “Dream” speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The following is my Blog posted to The Brazil Times website August 28 2013.
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Throughout the course of human history there have arisen at crucible moments in time one man, it’s usually a man, who transforms history by the power of the spoken word alone.
It takes a convergence of events and people and orator which may well be that enigma known as ‘destiny’. The people have to be ready, the crises faced no longer avoidable. To this moment comes a speaker possessing skill and God-given talent to put together just the right words and cadence and articulation to move and motivate their generation.
The speech given, the motivation inspired, most often resolves nothing. There will be battles yet to fight, years of work ahead; but nothing will ever be the same once the words are spoken.
The best of these speeches are short; often less than 10 minutes duration. And, inevitably contain one sentence, one phrase which makes the moment immortal.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address gave a glimmer of hope to people who would endure The Great Depression. The struggle would go on 10 years before it ended, but belief in their selves came to “the greatest generation” with: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Upon assuming the office of Prime Minister in 1940, Winston Churchill set forth a message to the British people which assured England would “wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime". World history was changed by these words as much as munitions: "… I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat…"
When they tell the tale of American history turning points will be demarcated by the elections of Abraham Lincoln, 1860, and John F. Kennedy, 1960. What JFK would say in his lone inaugural address would inspire a generation and release social and political reform the end of which we have not yet seen: “And, so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
If you were alive on August 28 1963 or born any time thereafter, you have the great privilege of being exposed to what is generally considered one of the greatest orations in American history. In front of the Lincoln Memorial that day ten men came to the podium to speak, along with multiple popular entertainers. Unless you were there or have studied the event, only the words of one man are remembered:
“I have a dream today.
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
It was not the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, and was certainly not the end. It was perhaps its “finest hour.” After that August day the march for Right and Justice could never again be stopped. Because of that speech and movement, my children and grandchildren live in a world of which Dr. King could only dream. As someone recently said, his words changed the world because they motivated white people who did not understand what the dream was about – people like this writer of inadequate words.
Just writing for the generations which benefit from the words of men which rose to the occasion, theDaddy!
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