I screwed up today's speech. I still won the club award. But that was on my strength of speaking, and not on the quality of speech.
I've been working on a Theodore Roosevelt speech for about a month. I've gone through an estimated four drafts. And none of them sounded right. I ended up delivering a jumble of information today. It was well-received and praised.
My evaluator, a kindly retired lawyer, rightly took me to task on it. He thinks he was too harsh; he was actually just right, and I'm glad the club saw the critiques he made.
Could better preparation helped? Sure. I didn't effectively memorize the speech, or even talking points, because I was struggling until the last minute to get a draft.
Could I have worked on my physical presentation? Yes. I was in a suit. But I tended to pace. I have a way of scanning the room that's reminiscent of an oscillating sprinkler. It's eye contact, but it's not particularly effective (and for the vision impaired toastmaster, damn annoying -- the auditory input of someone pacing while speaking can actually induce nausea).
But those are secondary issues.
The biggest reason it was a bad speech was because the topic was ill-suited to the format.
The Competent Communicator (CC) #2 speech is all about organization. There should be a clear intro, in which you enumerate your three main points. There should be three supporting points. And, finally, there should be a conclusion.
The problem is that I ended up delivering a narrative speech. There's just too much info in any biographical narrative (and most obviously so when discussing a crowded life like T.R.'s.)
A narrative is a terrible approach to a highly structured speech, especially given the time constraints.
The speech would have gone better if I had stuck with draft #2, which organized roughly along certain personality traits.
But it would have still foundered on the fundamental fact that historical narrative is a poor match for this speech.
Most of us are limited by topic. We have to speak about a certain thing in a professional setting. We have to talk about the bride and groom at a wedding. In the vast majority of cases, the topic is fixed. Sometimes even the format is fixed. But even in those cases, what flexibility exists comes from format, not from content.
These Toastmasters speeches are precisely the opposite. For many of these speeches (but not all: CC#1: The Icebreaker is a conspicuous exception), the speaker has freedom -- too much for comfort -- to choose any topic he or she wishes. It's the format, structure, or grading rubric that is fixed. The intent is clear: focus on a single technical aspect of the speech. It doesn't matter if it's about something no one cares about; at this level, the emphasis is on the mechanics.
It's important to double-check that you're doing precisely what you're supposed to be doing. And sometimes, in order to do what you're supposed to do, you have to ditch your preferred topic and go with another one.
This lesson applies to writing as well. Even if you have freedom to include whatever examples or content you wish, your format will often suggest more natural topics, and, contrariwise, will build in natural barriers if you insist on alternative topics.
This might not be helpful for those of you speaking in work settings. But for those of you with some flexibility in content, but not in form, it bears remembering. I'll keep that in mind while I prepare for CC#3: Get to The Point.
Ladies and gentlemen, this address is titled, “Why I am Proud to be a Republican”. But I feel the more appropriate title would be, “Why I am Proud to be an American.”
I believe I should have titled this speech “Why I am Proud to be an American” because I believe deeply that our values and principles do transcend party and politics. They speak to the essence of what it is to be an American.
It is not because I fear to be associated with the Republican Party, or Republican values. I embrace both wholeheartedly. I have tried, however imperfectly, to live them as best as I can. In my life, I have worked to uphold them, and will work to my dying day, as long as the American people will have me, to improve the Republican Party, and ensure that it always, first and foremost, answers to the will of the people and the values of our Founding Fathers – nothing more, and nothing less.
If we ignore the histrionics of the media and the pundits, we will see that the present, brutal economic crisis has, in important ways, brought our national parties together. Both parties seek the restoration of our economy and way of life; both of us seek to restore American greatness. It is a greatness that stems not from the strength of arms, or of our economy – but from the moral fiber of a people unafraid to realize their greatness, and the responsibility it entails.
Make no mistake: our party and theirs offer a clear choice on critical questions of policy. Just how will we restore prosperity? To what degree can the people of this nation be trusted to make their own decisions? What role should the Federal government play in the lives of American citizens? These policy distinctions have been made abundantly clear, and the voters will give their verdict in November.
But Republicans and Democrats do not disagree about the greatness of America, or the importance of being true to its core values. It is important, even in this season of politics and campaigns, to remember how far we have come together.
Time and again, American servicemen and civilians have stepped forward to render assistance across the world: to feed the hungry, to defend the helpless, to oppose tyranny. Why? Why do this? Why sacrifice the flower of our youth, the riches of our industry, the energy of our people in this way? Not because it was in our national interest—for often, it was not. Not out of imperial ambition—our nation was born in defiance of empire, and will oppose it for all times, and have fought and will forever fight the forces of empire, to our dying breath. No. We did this because it was the right thing to do, because to do otherwise would be to reject values so close, so essential to the American spirit that it would be an act of national suicide.
We disagree, sometimes vehemently, with our opponents. But fundamentally, we do not question their patriotism. We question their judgment, their reasoning, and their arguments. That is how it should be. I hope they will extend us the same courtesy.
But I pray, plead, and beg our distinguished opposition to remember that our hard-won values and traditions are not yet universal. As Americans, we have done our best – and will continue to do better – to stay true to our better angels, and to promote democracy around the world. For it is human nature to seek liberty, however difficult the road, over the safety and comfort of the most gilded cage.
But not all have embraced this path, and some are threatened by our democratic principles. There are those that would do us as much harm as they could, who would slay innocents, even our children, in cowardly, dishonorable attacks, who would spread lies to divide us—anything, in their desperation, to destroy America. We must never forget that America’s enemies are real, and they are dangerous.
We are a nation of laws. But the international environment is a wilderness, with potential friends, but also proven enemies. It is our sacred duty, as representatives of the people, and citizens of America, to oppose evil, ancient and modern, wherever we must. We are not warmongers. We oppose them because it is right, because that is the role demanded of us by our history and our honor— just as it has been demanded of all previous generations of Americans. We pray that we will have the courage and wisdom we will need, borrowed from our common history and shared with each other, to defend American values from all enemies.
I respect the contributions of the Democratic Party, and of its membership. My ire is not directed toward them, for they, like ourselves, are at our best when we serve the people. Though we may disagree on policy and method, I believe that we share fundamental principles that speak well of both our parties, and of this nation. They are sometimes misguided, but they are our brothers and sisters. We both believe the words of our great, first Republican president: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” And the array of present challenges facing our nation will require the full resources of all individuals of courage and ability.
No, I save my disdain and harsh words for the forces of division and disloyalty that seek to rend our united will with voices reduced to noise, to cloud our minds and dilute our will with falsehoods. Of them I have this to say: They are opportunists; they are demagogues; they are duplicitous and unscrupulous charlatans. They would be laughable in their desperation, were it not for the fact that they seek to strike a mortal blow to our Republic. Knowingly or unknowingly, they are helping our enemies abroad when they seek to turn us against ourselves. They dishonor themselves, and cower behind the protection offered by the very American principles they demean.
Their strategy is simple: they seek to shame the American citizen. They act to drag our flag, our history, our very self-respect through the mud. They would have us disown and dishonor our heritage and the sacrifices of those who came before under the golden calf idol of progress. They would have us turn against ourselves and destroy the best of America for any of their false gods. They would turn the words “American” and “patriot” into epithets.
I have no doubt that they will fail, and that American principle and honor will prevail over the forces arrayed against us. For I have placed my faith in the American citizen. That faith has been justified, countless times, even when I, personally, was unworthy of the blessings and second chances given to me by that most noble and most humble of men.
American citizens deserve that faith. For it is the blessing, and burden, of the Republic that the citizen knows he will have to live with the consequences of his actions. The burdens of high taxes, of uncontrolled government spending, of social policies, of restricted liberties, of the disgrace of failing to leave a better nation and stronger economy for those who are to come – these he is asked to bear. And so, burdened by conscience, but strengthened by native courage, the American citizen votes; he speaks, he fights, and, across all professions and all walks of life, he serves his country. He serves no party, not even our Grand Old Party; he serves the nation, however he can, however he must.
The day we stop trusting the American citizen to do what is right is the day the Republic ends. Those of us who love this country, who owe everything to this country, will fight to the very end to ensure that day never arrives.
It is that faith in the American citizen that the technocrats of this administration and some members the elite media underestimate. It is ridiculed as outmoded thinking, inappropriate for a modern, complicated world. They call it quaint, naïve and simplistic.
But the truth is, sometimes, very simple. We make no pretensions to being a complicated people. But we are a brave one. We greet the dawn as Americans of ten generations have; with both sword and outstretched hand. It is how our diverse and variegated society finds, in spite of differences and disagreements, the spirit to grow and thrive.
We place our faith in our God. We place it in the American soldier, the American engineer, the American teacher, the American doctor, the American protestor, the American factory machinist, the American construction worker and the American entrepreneur. We place it, even, yes, in the Democrats. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, our lives, and our souls, are daily placed in the common peril of a world seeking to tear itself apart, and daily saved by the courage, industry, and dignity of an army of familial strangers. This is not an exaggeration—this is simply the way we live, the way our society functions. This simple faith is what keeps us safe and gives us the courage to meet the modern, complicated world head-on. Our faith in the character of the American citizen, of the free individual, makes us the envy of the world, and on the right side of history.
We cannot continue to trust this young, inexperienced man, however bright and well-spoken, however well-intentioned, with the future of our three hundred million citizens--with the future of the entire world. Our country chose the allure of youth over the experience of age four years ago, and even those who made that choice have come to regret it. Yet through it all, we have served, for our duty requires that we serve always, and not only when it is convenient, and that we protest when it is right, and not only when it is popular. We respect his heart, his demonstrated intellect, and his gifted oratory. We respect his love of this country. But our commitment to the American people demands our dissent and opposition, and demands a new President..
The will of the people must be served, and it will be, in November. And the message will be clear to both victor and vanquished: work together to restore American greatness.
Let America’s natural drive for industriousness and justice be fully unleashed. Give business the tools it needs to race forward. Give the individual citizen the dignity of independence, the respect and deference earned by his actions and the sacrifices of ten generations of fallen heroes. Give our soldiers our confidence, our material support, and our prayers. Reaffirm our solemn vow to use them only when we must, and to honor their sacrifice by remembering them in war and in peace.
Do not be afraid to be noble, to be proud to say “I am American” with stentorian confidence. For, in all of human history, there has never been a title as great as that of “American citizen”. It is the most unforgiving in its demands of responsibility. But with it comes the most generous of rewards realized by mortal man – dignity, honor, and liberty.
Let us remember and live the words of the great American clergyman, Phillips Brooks:
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.”
March forward, Americans. Take back your country from the forces of division that seek to shame us, to manipulate our natural honor and integrity for their own gain.
March with eagles in your eyes, charity and humility in your heart, and the wisdom of the ages in your mind.
March with the confidence of righteousness and experience.
March with the confidence that you carry the flame of ages to a darkened world.
We carry each other to the Promised Land, to the Shining City upon a Hill.
We carry on, to tomorrow, to eternal glory.
We do this because it is right and it is honorable.
We do this because we are Americans, and refuse to live any other way.
May it be said, a thousand years from now, of our dark time, that men and women of integrity, of vision, of compassion, and especially of courage, made their voices heard, stood against the forces of evil, and prevailed. And may it be said we did so united, one nation under God, indivisible, with justice for all.
My fellow Americans.
As none of you may know, I have, in anticipation of a recall election, decided to run for the highest office in the land – I want to be your next mayor of San Gabriel. While Mr. Hwang reinforces existing negative stereotypes about Asians’ singleminded focus on money and dangerous driving, I promise to give you completely new reasons to regard us with scorn and horror.
Some voices in my head have asked, “Ryan, why would you want to run for mayor?” To answer this, let me tell you a story. A few years ago, I was a lowly graduate student in an obscure school, studying something involving very high things. A guest, Dr. Janna Levin, had a pizza lunch with me and my fellow peons. One particularly interesting question asked was, “If you could be anything except an astronomer, what would you be?” I recall that my answer was “local public official, because it combines the best combination of power and lack of accountability”.
It was then that I realized that in four years, after I grew tired of mooching off my parents, I would embark upon this glorious crusade to ensure an absolute lack of change in how things are done.
This election, we have heard candidates from the left and the right promise change, bemoan the status quo, and spend so much money on television advertisements that I’m actually starting to miss the stupid Geico crying pig commercials.
I am here to reassure you that, as mayor, I won’t change a damn thing. All these candidates who promise change never ask you, the voter, you, the ATM machine, whether you really want change. We (weeeeeeeeeeee!) do not ask ourselves that question enough – though my personal record is 834 times in a day.
If things changed for the better, what would we complain about? Who would be blame for our own failings? Most importantly, who would we feel smarter than? We need our current dysfunctional state of government because it salves our ego, absolves us of personal responsibility, and provides an economic stimulus to the nationally vital late night comedian industry.
And, of course, things could always change for the worse. We could have zombies roaming the streets, the result of an experiment involving so-called “health care”. We could have translucent golems prowling our neighborhoods, scaring our children, the result of so-called “recycling plastic bottles”. We could realize that we are bankrupt, thanks to so-called “transparency” and “standard accounting practices”, rather than live in the only mildly uncomfortable state of suspecting, but not knowing, that we’re all going to have to work until we’re dead.
Remember that it can always get worse. Remember that, and let it infect your dreams. Let it dominate your waking thoughts. For this is what these “change” people offer.
Friends, Bro-mans, and Country Chickeners, lend me your fears!
I promise to reinforce the status quo as vigorously as any 19th century Austrian diplomat. I promise that local government will continue to muck around, displaying no initiative or creativity. I definitely will guarantee no attempts to improve schools – after all, children are the cheap labor of the future, and you can’t have their heads filled with arithmetic, or questions, or, God forbid, ANSWERS. It’s how the Greatest Generation dealt with the Boomers, and it’s how we’ll maintain an 18th century standard of living.
In closing, let me just say that, as mayor, I will be exactly what you expect from local officials – corrupt, incompetent, and crazy. (Shut up.) Who’s talking during my speech? (You are, idiot.) No you’re an idiot.
Anyway, vote for me. Remember – a vote for me isn’t a vote against hope; it’s a vote for fear.
(This is a sermon I have not yet given before a congregation. But I present it here, with the hope it may be of value to the congregation of friends, religious or not, I am privileged to know. -R)
The Lord be with you. (And also with you.)
Today’s story comes from the headline news. On Monday night, Anderson Cooper interviewed Andrew Shirvell, who is an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan. Mr. Shirvell has created a blog, in which he singles out and attacks the student body president of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a 21-year old openly gay man named Chris Armstrong. On his blog, titled “Chris Armstrong Watch”, Shirvell has called him a “radical homosexual activist”, a “racist, elitist, and liar”, and “Nazi-like”. Shirvell has also called him “Satan’s representative on the Student Assembly”, and depicted him with a multicolored peace flag on which appears a Nazi swastika. He attacked the reputation of Armstrong’s friends and family, and protested outside of his residence.
Counting words in a speech isn't the same as analyzing content. However, it does provide some quick and interesting clues, especially when contrasted with speeches of similar scope and ambition. That's why I love Wordle. Here's a quick comparison between Obama's space policy address at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, April 15 and Kennedy's "Moon" speech at Rice University.
(Originally posted Thursday, June 5, 2008; updated March 30, 2010 with info on a new documentary commemorating RFK's Indianapolis speech.)
1968 is considered by many historians as an amazing year. It seems a moment in which people felt a decade's worth of emotion in a single year. Revolutions in France and Czechoslovakia. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Race riots in America. Vietnam.
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Consistently ranked as one of the finest speeches in American politics, the eulogy Ted Kennedy gave for his brother, Robert, is worth reading, and worth hearing. I may have more to write about Ted Kennedy later, but I encourage everyone to give this speech a listen.
This is Part 2 of a post on the removal of the Family Planning provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. You can read part 1 here.
A lot of my friends will probably be dismayed that I sympathize with the choice to remove that particular provision from the Act. As I mentioned in Part 1, I am happy to discuss it, and reserve the right, as an intelligent, honest adult to change my views when presented with another, more durable position and argument.
But I wanted to tackle a broader issue in this post.
This is Part One of a three-part series on Barack Obama's Inaugural Address.
In Part Two, I will examine Obama's Inaugural Address as a piece of rhetoric. And finally, in Part Three, I'll actually share what it means to me, and where I think we go from here.
In an attempt to formulate my thoughts about Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, I started looking at other significant speeches made by Americans. I was curious what words he used the most, and how that compared with these other speeches. Fortunately, I rediscovered wordle, a wonderful little Java applet that converts blocks of text into beautiful images, where the size of the word corresponds to its frequency. It also edits out very common words, which helps avoid a dramatic and useless "the" surrounded by other, lesser words.
1968 is considered by many historians as an amazing year. It seems a moment in which people felt a decade's worth of emotion in a single year. Revolutions in France and Czechoslovakia. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Race riots in America. Vietnam.
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
On April 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy was campaigning in Indiana. He was scheduled to give a campaign speech in Indianapolis. As he was boarding a plane, word reached him that Dr. King had been shot. He used the flight to put his thoughts on paper. After landing, Robert learned that Martin was dead.
The two had initially been suspicious of each other - King regarding Kennedy as an example of the timid white reformer, where "tomorrow" was the answer to every problem. Kennedy regarded King as empowering the militants within the Civil Rights Movement, who had hindered their own progress by being "angry". But their relationship would grow to friendship, as they both realized each other's greatness, and their common vision for America.
His advisors cautioned him that the news could be dangerous, and might trigger a riot. He was warned by the Chief of Police in Indianapolis that protection could not be guaranteed, but Kennedy decided to continue. He stood on a podium mounted on a flatbed truck. Looking out on a sea of black faces, he realized that they did not yet know. He then proceeded to give perhaps one of the finest speech ever given to a nation in tears.
He told them. There was screaming, and wailing. He waited, and continued. He recognized their anger, and told them that the assassin was a white man. He said he shared their feelings, and remembered what it felt like when his brother had been killed. It may have been the first time he had spoken in public about his brother's assassination. He quoted a poem by Aeschylus:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
That night, 110 American cities burned, with 43 killed and thousands injured in riots. But that night, Indianapolis remained calm. Such was the totality of the grief, that it erased, for one moment, the gulf separating a white man of privilege, quoting a Greek poet, and the poor, black audience.
Just two months later, on June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in the Ambassador hotel in California. His eulogy, delivered by his brother Ted, drew heavily from Robert's own speeches, in particular, a speech delivered two years earlier to South African students on the Day of Affirmation. The audience, and the world, heard him speaking beyond the grave, words as important in 1968 as they were in 1966, important and relevant for all times.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
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On behalf of Mrs. Kennedy, her children, the parents and sisters of Robert Kennedy, I want to express what we feel to those who mourn with us today in this Cathedral and around the world.
We loved him as a brother, and as a father, and as a son. From his parents, and from his older brothers and sisters -- Joe and Kathleen and Jack -- he received an inspiration which he passed on to all of us. He gave us strength in time of trouble, wisdom in time of uncertainty, and sharing in time of happiness. He will always be by our side.
Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.
A few years back, Robert Kennedy wrote some words about his own father which expresses the way we in his family felt about him. He said of what his father meant to him, and I quote: "What it really all adds up to is love -- not love as it is described with such facility in popular magazines, but the kind of love that is affection and respect, order and encouragement, and support. Our awareness of this was an incalculable source of strength, and because real love is something unselfish and involves sacrifice and giving, we could not help but profit from it." And he continued, "Beneath it all, he has tried to engender a social conscience. There were wrongs which needed attention. There were people who were poor and needed help. And we have a responsibility to them and to this country. Through no virtues and accomplishments of our own, we have been fortunate enough to be born in the United States under the most comfortable conditions. We, therefore, have a responsibility to others who are less well off."
That is what Robert Kennedy was given. What he leaves to us is what he said, what he did, and what he stood for. A speech he made to the young people of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation in 1966 sums it up the best, and I would like to read it now:
"There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again. The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that come with even the most peaceful progress.
It is a revolutionary world we live in, and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation; a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth; a young woman reclaimed the territory of France; and it was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the 32 year-old Thomas Jefferson who [pro]claimed that "all men are created equal."
These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. *It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.* Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.
For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event.
*The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.* Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny. There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live."
That is the way he lived. That is what he leaves us.
My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.
As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:
"Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not."
I turn to this speech, periodically, to remind me of something about myself, and about human nature in general, whenever I seem in danger of forgetting it. I couldn't tell you what it is - all I can say is that this is the single most important speech I have ever heard. If I had to describe it, I would say that it is the touchstone to my self-awareness of citizenship and dignity.
We have wandered the desert for 40 years, with manna and misery, but unlike the ancient Israelites, we see not the frontier of the Promised Land. But this speech, and this life, at least serves as a guide to what we can be, what must be, and what will be.
On October 4, 1957, Leave it to Beaver premiered on CBS. This show, more than any other, would capture the spirit of optimism and simplicity that characterized America at that time. Few Americans were aware that that same day, the Soviet Union had launched the first man-made satellite into space - Sputnik. The illusion of innocence was evaporating as the beep-beep of the Red Moon rising ticked off the seconds of the new era.
Sputnik immediately challenged the basic assumptions upon which Western security and American confidence, rested. American confidence depended upon the assumption that, by empowering the individual and not the state, a free and open society could better harness the collective energies and intelligence of its citizens to preserve peace and prosperity. Postwar American strategy presumed scientific superiority and depended upon high-tech solutions — in particular, a nuclear bomber deterrent — to balance Soviet numbers in Europe. Imagine the reaction, then, when it became apparent that this backward, repressive regime was able to beat the free world to the ultimate missile. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if the Soviets could launch a satellite into space, they could launch a nuclear weapon at American cities.
The American response was swift and substantial. In 1958, Congress created NASA to better direct the efforts of America’s various military and civilian aeronautical programs, whose petty rivalries had prevented the United States from being first to space. In time, America would use its own satellites to provide needed intelligence about the world beyond the iron curtain. That same year, Congress passed the National Defense and Education Act, which revamped science education and, for the first time, provided massive amounts of financial aid for college students.
Yet in spite of Eisenhower’s efforts to reassure the American people, fears of American technical inferiority and a “missile gap” helped decide the 1960 presidential election. Not since World War II, and perhaps never since, have science and technology been so politically central, so intimately linked in the American mind with the survival of the free world. Space exploration was a vision that transformed potency into existence, dreams into global impacts and politics into progress.
Sputnik created a host of institutions and a strong federal commitment to fund science. But its greatest, most critical legacy is a generation of scientists and citizens who embraced that shared vision of at last touching the heavens.
They were inspired and organized, trained and mentored, and overcame fear and challenges to explore the possibilities of this new age. These individuals now teach our classes, and serve in leadership positions in all areas of society. These men and women continue to expand the frontiers of science, to bring us sometimes wonderful, sometimes frightening, but unfailingly miraculous tomorrows.
No one living in the age of Sputnik, save the most farsighted scientists and unrepentant dreamers, could have imagined the world of today. We are equally ill-equipped to predict the events of the next half-century, either here on Earth, or in space.
This new ocean, like the seas of the twentieth century, may become the battlegrounds for bloody conflict. Or, space might be the exception in human history, the one frontier not consecrated with the blood of the innocent as well as the brave.
Perhaps in our efforts to explore beyond this pale blue dot, we might find the wisdom and means to build, here at home, what Langston Hughes called “the land that never has been yet — and yet must be/The land where every man is free.”
Whatever the future holds, one thing is certain — America and the world depend upon the genius, vision and character of its citizens, who dare to ask why, dare to dream, dare to challenge the frontiers of what is known, and dare to challenge themselves to become better through greater knowledge and wisdom.
History in general, and Sputnik in particular, tell us that there is little that collective human action cannot overcome, though it be matched against great challenges, natural or man-made. Thanks to that belief, and those believers, we can look at the heavens today and the earth below, with both greater knowledge and appreciation than any other generation in all history.
Another weekend of wasted potential... or is it? As it turns out, I spent the weekend busily preparing for and running A/V stuff for the District 65 Toastmasters conference in Ithaca, NY. It was a stressful, confusing, and complicated enterprise, but far and away worth the lost hair and ulcers that will no doubt manifest themselves in the coming weeks.
Under the fearless leadership of Linda Tompkins and Laurie Hultberg, both of my own Ithaca Area Toastmasters club, we put together and executed an excellent conference, featuring DARREN LECROIX, 2001 WORLD CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER. I'm generally skeptical of celebrity, but he seemed decent and grounded enough. The conference schedule is available on the district website.
The conference consisted of two days of talks, workshops, banquets, and the like. Personally, one of the most important insight came from a conversation I had during the dinner banquet. A very articulate and intelligent tablemate (not a rare phenomenon in Toastmasters) pointed out that much of English language is focused on the negative, often concealed through grammatically nonsensical, prolific use of negative contractions: "don't", "can't", "won't", and the like. Specific examples escape me (perhaps because I somehow avoided the atrocious grammar that frequently characterizes California public school education), but I do remember quite distinctly certain colloquialisms that are absolutely nonsensical when "don't" is expanded into "do not". She has given me food for thought, something for which I am always grateful and, in the final analysis, is the long gray line between me becoming wise and the arrogance that is nearly the birthright of a twenty-something middle-class American.
For me, the best part of the conference consisted of Irish drinking songs and the testimonials of how Toastmasters has changed lives. When I first read about Toastmasters on Steve Pavlina's blog, I first assumed that this quasi-cult was something far less than the godsend that Mr. Pavlina made it appear in his blog.
I was pleasantly mistaken. Toastmasters has been far and away one of my most prized activities here in the wilds of upstate New York. Rather than surrounding myself with upper-middle class academic types 24/7, I have the distinct pleasure of learning from and with individuals who may lack a billion letters after their names, but are among the wisest, most compassionate, and most articulate individuals I have ever known. I am truly in their debt, and hope that I contribute in some small way to the advancement of the club and the enrichment of their own lives.
Should you have the desire to improve your public speaking and meet interesting individuals from the community, I highly recommend Toastmasters to you.
(delivered at PBS National Convention, Denver, CO, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007)
Ladies and gentlemen, nominators, members of the press, big oil, celebrities, despotic warlords, my fellow Americans... I humbly and graciously accept your nomination for the presidential candidacy of the United States. I am proud to represent the Party for a Beautiful Society, dedicated since 1798 to abolishing from the Americas ugly people of all races, creeds, genders, and sexual orientations. As I gaze out into the stands of tans, silicone implants, botox lips and lipo hips, I am tremendously proud of how far America has come these many years.
America is great for many reasons. It is great because of the rule of law. I wish to congratulate the Party for a Beautiful Society and the PBS chairman for his successful trademark infringement suit against the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As we speak, law enforcement officials are storming Sesame Street offices, repossessing Ernie's rubber duckie, evicting Oscar the Grouch from his garbage can, sending Cookie Monster to the Betty Ford Clinic (where he can get the help he needs and deserves), and arresting Elmo on charges of tickle solicitation of minors.
America is also great because of our free markets. Where else but America can you find a nation that spends as much on plastic surgery, weight loss, cosmetics, and manicures as our federal government spends on education, and as much as the entire GDP of Kazakhstan?
But it is great especially because of our commitment to democracy. In that spirit, my runningmate and I will tattoo our campaign slogan - Beauty, Manliness, Codependency - to the body part that receives the most votes on the poll available on our campaign website, americahatesuggos.com
Beauty, Manliness, Codependency - what does it mean, exactly?
The beauty is self-evident. You beautiful, beautiful people have come from the beaches of California, from the tanning salons of South Carolina, from botox clubs in Connecticut and butt implant clinics in Texas. Yet America is facing a severe crisis - there is projected a shortage of beautiful people, and the people who maintain that beauty, as one generation of plastic surgeons, movie stars, and make-up research scientists retire. As president, I will make sure we expand our immigration application process to incorporate benefits for those who bring plastic surgery talent or cosmetic manufacturing, or the prime ingredient of attractiveness, good genes. I also pledge make cosmetic testing on humans mandatory. I also promise you a K-12 national make-up program, to be modeled after our public school free lunches, that will make ours, truly, a Great Society.
Across this country, people have asked me, Senator Yamada, how will you restore manliness to America? I'll tell you how I won't do this - by embracing the chauvinism of previous administrations. I promise you that as president, my cabinet will have more women than any in history. I'll go further- I pledge that it will be made exclusively of young, nubile women.
No, I believe that manliness must start at home before we seek to project it abroad with phallic cruise missiles. I pledge tonight to ensure that the legacy of my presidency will be unparalleled warfare between the branches of civil government, with the executive branch emerging bloody but unbowed after the first hundred days of partisan shock and awe.
In the days before the Civil War, it might be possible to find manly leaders like South Carolina Senator Brook, who in 1856 severely beat fellow Senator Sumner of Massachusetts with his cane on the Senate floor. I assure you that as president I will resurrect this ancient, manly tradition of mortal combat between our elected officials. I propose that we build a Supercolliding Senatorium, where the highest, most distinguished officials of the land will decide the issues of the day in a many demolition derby. And I promise you that we will not limit our destructive democratic derby to SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY, but devote every working hour to the ideal the Greeks once articulated: truth is born from the collision of ideas - and the idea-doers.
And finally, codependency. Where would America - its families, its workplaces, its churches - be without codependency? Codependency has gotten a bad rap, mostly from the liberal academics and mainstream media. Codependency is the essence of a functioning democracy. Scientists tell us that the only thing keeping my Cro-Magnon, hormone-crazed mind from killing all male non-relatives in the room is my overpowering terror of being alone, unloved, and abandoned.
We are all codependent - this is a globalized economy. Now, we need to take the next step, and embrace codependent fiscal policy. Subprime? Sublime! I want every American to know that the government is like a loving parent - a willing, waiting, gentle cash machine, here to kiss all your boo-boos and make it better. Each individual must have the courage to invest his sense of self-worth in the opinions of others, in how he looks, and how much he makes, and shun the easy and familiar paths of character-building and independent reason. Only then can we become a united America, a closer America. Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we sign this American Declaration of Codependence.
America is at a crossroads. At home our citizens are dispirited, frustrated, seeking direction, and angry about American Idol. My fellow Americans, we cannot let this continue.
If we are to be great, an Empire over which the sun does not set, we must build a space-based mega-magnifying glass, so that we may focus American will and the Sun's blessed rays in a terawatt beam of righteous fire to smite the evil-doers. If we are to be a nation without borders, we must conquer foreign soil until we are truly a world united under one system. And if we are to triumph over the Atlantian menace, we must extend our reach, too, to the undersea floor, by means of midget submarines, manned by our NBA all-stars, for in a mad age like ours, irony is our best defense against the undersea infidels.
You may elect me because I am sexy. And I will use my physical God-given gifts to seduce the leadership and movie stars of foreign nations to erect partnerships to cement American influence.
You may elect me because you think it would be interesting to have model minority Orientals in charge for a change. And I promise that my first act as President will be to rename the residence the Yellow House.
But I want you to support me, vote for me, bear arms for me, fight for me, have children for me, work for me, and die for me, because you genuinely believe that I am the best candidate, endowed with the arrogance, violence, ego, ambition, and psychedelic vision needed to lead this Empire for the term of my presidency... and, if our scientists should so bless us with the ability preserve my living floating head in a jar, for the next 1000 years of American hegemony, so help us God.
God save the American people from the enemies abroad and the ugly people at home. Thank you for this honor. Thank you for your love, and God bless America.
(delivered at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Ithaca, NY, 7 Oct 2007)
Good morning everyone! My name is Ryan Yamada. I have the distinct privilege of announcing to this wonderful body of Christ that Consecration Sunday is this October 25! Consecration Sunday is a chance to ask ourselves what we feel compelled to give to God and His service, as so beautifully and remarkably demonstrated by all the good that comes from this faith community.
I've been asked to provide my own experiences in the Church and how I intend to approach Consecration Sunday, both of which I am happy to do.
About a year ago, you welcomed me into this congregation, and entrusted me with a most precious task - to help nurture and encourage the senior high students in confirmation class. I'm still amazed you let a virtual stranger do this - though Rebecca kept an eye on me to make sure no damage was done. I found the youth to be brilliant, kind, passionate, and most of all, generous in heart and spirit. I'm not sure what they got out of my presence, other than some wisecracks and enthusiastic support for the appreciation of caffeinated beverages. I found myself wondering, over and over again: why is it that these men and women are so awesome?
Credit goes to them of course, their friends and families, and God. But I think this spiritual community also played, and continues to play, a key role. During service, I'm often struck by a vision of a multi-generational construction project, in which you are building, brick by brick, an awesome sanctuary that extends far beyond these walls, and far beyond Sunday morning. From Buffalo Street to Bosnia, you extend comfort, nurture the spirit, and challenge hearts and minds to become stronger, wiser, and more loving. What you do demonstrates courage and conviction that can come only from loving something greater than yourself. It is here that I first felt the full force of 1 Cor 13:13 - "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love."
Of course we’re not perfect. We are often failed saints, and all too often successful sinners; we have imperfect moral resumes. Even my flaws have flaws. But we do God's work as well as we can, however we can.
In so many ways I have trusted you with my heart and my soul; that decision to embrace this community has been one of the best of my life. It is therefore easy for me to trust this living church with what offerings I can give, for it is here that I see it work, in ways subtle and sublime.
We decide, as individuals, what we can give. Our reasons for giving are as complex and diverse as our reasons for coming here, and often remain unknown even to ourselves. But we must never underestimate the power of gifts, of talent, time, and tithe, to do so much good in the world, and to enrich our own lives. It truly is better to give than to receive, but by the grace of God we can do both.
As we approach October 28, I hope that all of us will take some time to increase our mindfulness of why we give, what it means to give, what we are called to give. And in these weeks, we will also reflect upon all that God gives to us, in particular, the opportunity to share a special time and spirit in a truly remarkable community.
Blessings to you in the coming weeks - may you feel what I feel, see what I see, whenever I walk among this living, awesome, sanctuary.
I have long believed that all that was required to guide the ship of state and world society to more peaceful progress was a learned hand at the helm of each nation and group. Imagine then, to my surprise, upon learning that Learned Hand is an American jurist. His speech on May 21, 1944, delivered at the "I Am an American Day" ceremony in Central Park, New York City, articulates more eloquently than I could ever the limited role of institutions in safeguarding liberty, and the limitless role for personal spirit in articulating, shaping, and building that just society that exists in vague recollection and distant ideas, growing, one hopes, ever more defined as we grow wiser.
The Spirit of Liberty
Learned Hand
Delivered May 21, 1944, Central Park, New York City
We have gathered here to affirm a faith, a faith in a common purpose, a common conviction, a common devotion. Some of us have chosen America as the land of our adoption; the rest have come from those who did the same. For this reason we have some right to consider ourselves a picked group, a group of those who had the courage to break from the past and brave the dangers and the loneliness of a strange land. What was the object that nerved us, or those who went before us, to this choice? We sought liberty; freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be ourselves. This we then sought; this we now believe that we are by way of winning. What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned but never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest. And now in that spirit, that spirit of an America which has never been, and which may never be; nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americans create it; yet in the spirit of that America which lies hidden in some form in the aspirations of us all; in the spirit of that America for which our young men are at this moment fighting and dying; in that spirit of liberty and of America I ask you to rise and with me pledge our faith in the glorious destiny of our beloved country.”
