Some Thoughts About Reading and Speaking

I hadn't realized it until I'd already written and published yesterday's post, but November 19th was the anniversary of the day in 1863 when president Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history - the timeless Gettysburg Address. In less than 300 words, President Lincoln honored the sacrifice of those who fought and died at the horrific battle of Gettysburg, summarized the reasons the war was worth fighting, and eloquently described the fundamental ideals of democracy.

At the time, Lincoln's speech was derided as too short and perfunctory for such a solemn occasion. The man who spoke before Lincoln was Edward Everett, one of the grand orators of the time. Mr Everett spoke for nearly 2-1/2 hours, delivering a sweeping historical overview that stretched from ancient Greece to the present day ... and today, no one remembers a word he said.

In a time of speeches which are little more than fluff surrounding sound bites keyed to news broadcasts, it's a good thing to remember a time when good public speaking really mattered ... when speakers knew their topic and spoke passionately about important things. American oratory is pretty much dead; in my opinion, the last really great speech given by an American was the "I have a dream" speech delivered by Martin Luther King in August, 1963 - nearly a hundred years after Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, and more than 40 years ago.

And this relates to another sad thing - the decline of American reading. On the anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the National Endowment for the Arts released a new study documenting the shocking decline in American reading. As recreational reading declines, so too does the foundation of knowledge that allows us to grasp complex ideas, to deliver and understand grand oratory, and to participate as useful citizens in civic life. A few months ago I published a series of three posts in this blog that related to reading - they were some of the best-received and most commented-on posts I've done so far ... which speaks well for the education and involvement of the readership I've managed to build over the last year and a half.

If we do nothing to improve the state of reading in America, if we don't build in our children a love of the well-written word and the power of literature, we will find ourselves in continuing decline. By the same token, if we don't teach or children that good, well-informed public speaking and effective writing are also important in getting our ideas out in front of others, we will raise a generation of citizens unable adequately to participate in the rough-and-tumble of modern American democracy. In time, we will lose that which Abraham Lincoln recognized on that November day so many years ago ... government "...of the people, by the people, for the people" will indeed perish from the earth.

We're fresh out of Abraham Lincolns and Martin Luther Kings, and that's a bad thing for America - because this is a time when sound bites and bumper stickers just won't do.

Read, write, and speak, and make sure your children can, too. You can give them no better gift.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - Yesterday was a great day: I received not one, but two blogging awards from my friends out there:

First, Amanda honored me with the "Blogging That Hits the Mark" award -


And then this morning I discovered that Serina Hope had bestowed the "Nice Matters" award on me for my efforts, describing me in her post as "sexy nice." Wow, it surely is nice that she doesn't get to see me when I'm in a bad mood, or when I haven't had my coffee yet!


I will be passing these two awards on to other deserving bloggers in the next day or so, but for now, I unfortunately have to get ready for work - the last working day before my Thanksgiving "vacation." Stay tuned for more details!

B.