Do you have seventeen and a half minutes to spare?
That is the duration of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I have a dream” speech. You might think that you know it, on this, the 50th anniversary from when it was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial but then again, you might be surprised. If you actually listen to it, to him, in its entirety, well, it is the true essence of the best of what we can achieve in our limited existence. I can’t not show up today to talk about this. Here is a link to watch it and if you can get through it without tears, you are of sterner stuff than I. We have come far, we have far to go.
(I chose this link as it also has the speech written out below, it is breathtaking in its beauty and power)
But I have a second lien for you today, another that touched me deeply, in such a quiet way that I had to strain to hear. And yet the words are echoing through me. My friend Aidan first brought my attention to the podcast On Being with Krista Tippett, I believe it was for the exceptional interview that she did with Brene Brown on vulnerability. Since then I tune in weekly while I iron. Today, I listened to Jean Vanier, who is the founder of L’Arche, a system of communities in 40 countries that works with the developmentally disabled. He spoke of how those that were not so long ago immediately shut away in asylums have much to teach us about what it is to be human. It is also very much worth your time and I agree that there is a profound Wisdom in Tenderness.
The link to: http://www.onbeing.org/program/wisdom-tenderness/234
It was really something to hear both of these on the same day, overlapping despite the stylistic differences. So again, much good has been done but it is up to each of us to keep passing it along. I think. N’est ce pas?
***
I am very surprised and grateful for the recent influx of new email subscribers. Not to worry, I don’t spend too much time up on my soapbox–at all actually–but if you are here, well, we might just be of like minds.
With all of my Best from Arles,
Heather
Yes, we are. There is so much of what he said, simple statements such as that but ring utterly true. I am going to try and listen to his interview again today–hoping that the words go in and stay there!
Ethic and morals are two words that I have been thinking about lately, Mumbai, even before the anniversary of Dr. King's speech. Mr. Vanier mentions them also. We need to have some weakness in order to be truly strong.
That must have been an incredible experience, N. And yes, I agree with you, as an orator–I don't know if there has been a finer one than Dr. King.
Please do! Miss you friend. Am off to see your links, merci…
Bisoussss
Oh Helen, what a beautiful thing to say. I am a messy fragile thing!
It must have been just lovely listening to his beautiful voice and message just before sleep. I should have known that you would appreciate his thoughts and faith.
xo
h
I agree with you entirely. It saddens me to see the voice of hatred trying to roll back time, as you say. We all need to just do our best to be a positive light.
You know I really don't think that she used a teleprompter but that it was a speech that she had prepared and memorized beforehand. It is amazing what she has been through–that sense of being a survivor is especially interesting to me. And yes, how grateful I also am to have been completely allowed to let me freak flag fly–to wear ripped up 1950s prom gowns with old men's shoes, to shave off my hair to the point that I was called "Son"–all of it. That I could buy the Mozart Requiem and listen to it for hours while scribbling poetry. Thank Goodness. It certainly wasn't always easy for my folks either, we lived in some very conservative places. But what oh what would have happened to me if they hadn't let me go through all of that? It makes me shudder to imagine.
Jean Vanier brought me tears. I knew of L'Arche via Henri Nouwen. This was my first time to listen to Jean Vanier. If only we all had his compassion but as he says 'We are a frightened people'. Gallivanta
Nowadays we would need more men like Dr.King..courageous, sincere, sacrificing , true to himself and never lose belief in his aims, Politicians with principles and ethic as Nelson Mandela was/is. Can we name only one?
Oh, you're welcome, Heather. For what it's worth?….I used to teach (for fifteen years or so) at "good" boarding schools, where you could just assume that most of the students were from priviledged (sp?) backgrounds, intelligent, etcetera (and don't forget the matter of their having fully-insured parents). I distinctly recall the beginning of a Summer session (1990, I think) when all of the faculty were "warned" that we'd be having a student who was on Ridalin (sp?) for her "problems. Just five years later?…..in the establishment's never-ending quest to have Happy(!), "Healthy!", and "Achieving to Benchmarks!" students?????……I was one of the only three teachers who found it worrisome to note that half (I kid you not) of these students arrived with their Ridalin prescriptions in hand.
I'm very lucky, I know, to have been raised in the Tennessee mountains (small town, by any standards) by parents who were perfectly content to let me, at age 12 or so, be as "weird" as I cared to be, as long as I didn't get myself killed and subject my family to the cost of a funeral.
Oh…as an actress, you must have noticed that Eleanor wasn't using a teleprompter (at least I don't think so) and seems to have both written and memorized that long address? Or was she simply/astonishigly speaking extemporaneously? Sad to consider that she's a crazy piece of goods that should be institutionalized, isn't it? (do I need to stress that I'm being sarcastic/joking?)
Level best as Ever,
David