Do words matter? A thought for the 4th

[Green Home]

By Jack McKinley

With the Fourth of July soon upon us, I have been reflecting on the whether “words matter.” Over the past year and a half many sources have posited that then Senator Obama followed by President-elect Obama and now President Obama gave “…..good speeches but lacked substance.” Well this got me to thinking about history, writing, speeches, context, etc., all of which has provoked me to share a few examples for your consideration as this holiday approaches.

The first person that comes to mind is a guy in a wheelchair who said something about “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and later made a speech about a day in history “…that will live in infamy.” Unable to rise from his wheelchair all this man really had was his mind and voice.

Then there was that chubby guy in England who chomped on cigars who made a speech containing such eloquent lines as “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” He had a few other gems but all the old fat guy had was his mind and voice.

On the downside, there was a short guy who wrote a book while imprisoned in Europe during the 1920’s. He was a mesmerizing speaker in addition to being an inspiring writer. With a penchant for uniforms, a rigid salute and one hideous little mustache, he orchestrated one of the most tragic periods in the annals of recorded history with nothing but words and speech.

Returning to the upside was a speech delivered on a field in Pennsylvania is November 1863. At the conclusion of the speech, the orator – a gangly, gaunt man who wore an unkempt beard – considered it a throw away speech, believing he paled in comparison to those who spoke before him. It was a brief speech – 239 words – that later became a staple memorized by children of the country he held together during that time of civil war.

Then there was the shy man with red hair who, at the age of 33, crafted an inspiring document that was called a “Declaration of Independence.”

Of course, he was inspired by an ex-con who just a few months earlier had published a document 46 pages in length called “Common Sense.” It was read by a Virginian named George who was in charge of a rag tag army who found it so inspirational that he had all of his officers read it to their soldiers at night like a bedtime story.

While I could go on about Chaucer and the Bard, suffice it to say that words really do matter. Strung together eloquently while enveloping a concept cogently, they have indeed moved mankind invariably forward.

Happy Fourth of July!

Jack

Cicero – “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”