![]() And several of the speeches he includes deal with politics only indirectly: such as Louis Pasteur's paean to scientific education, the Dalai Lama's sermon on the""Philosophy of Compassion"" and Salman Rushdie's description of a life""Trapped inside a Metaphor."" This is an invaluable reference for writers and speakers, students of history and those who simply appreciate great oratory. Robert Taft opposing war crimes trials after WWII) as well as its victors. The selections range widely through Western history, from Pericles's funeral oration to fallen Greek soldiers in the Peloponnesian War, to Tony Blair""exhorting his party to fight terrorism."" History has yet to pass judgment on the greatness of the most recent speeches included here, but Safire shows a broad-minded, bipartisan inclusiveness in collecting the words of Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, history's losers (Sen. But many readers will no doubt skip his prefatory lesson in rhetoric and go right to the speeches themselves. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will. ‘ Listening isn’t a need we have it’s a gift we give’.The third edition of this comprehensive collection of oratory through the ages is appropriately edited by former presidential speechwriter Safire-a man who knows firsthand the importance of putting together the right words for the right moment. Psalm 5:1-3 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Surely learning this art is a Herculean task in itself but let me leave you with these thoughts, which incidentally I ‘Listened’ from somewhere. With listening I mean attentive hearing and not the selective that we usually do. Listening is an art that we don’t learn in a day but inculcate in us gradually. It was a blissful experience but strange it may seem I didn’t want to continue it for long for the simple reason that human by nature prefers speaking and voicing his/her opinion than listening. My mind was in peace with itself as it had the assurance that not even a single word had come out of it which may disturb somebody. I became the agony aunt for so many not by giving them my valuable advice but by lending them an ear in their hour of despair. Still that day was a very edifying experience, as I got to know so many new facts and figures so alien to me just by attentively listening to conversations floating around me. Those who met me for the first time that day instantaneously termed me as shy, reticent, taciturn, aloof, worse cum worse arrogant and snob, because I had nothing to offer in speech. Mostly I heard gibberish from all the corners, generic sulking is what others had to offer. I was heading for a tough task but I surely wanted to experience the feeling of being a listener for a day. I vouched that come whatever may I shall not unnecessarily speak, even if my brain curses me I shall not give any sort of opinion or advice (solicited or unsolicited). With this global problem of too many mouths to speak and too little ears to listen I decided to be a listener for a day. At once all scribbled the best caricatures their talent could permit of papa bull, mama bull and baby bull without even realizing that how can we have a female bull! That was when a very important fact was taught to all of us that the populace pays less attention to instructions and even if we listen it is always selective hearing. At one time all speak and nobody listens, resulting in pandemonium in the studio which eventually leads to the host going in for a short break or the viewer surfing to another channel.Īnother example that I recall, in one of the communication technique lectures we were asked to quickly draw a mama bull a papa bull and a baby bull. However when the implementation time comes this is not what happens. Well organized and planned with the idea that one at a time will speaks while the rest listen. While the host plays the role of a convener. The audience is expected to listen, form an opinion and ask questions. One often sees debates on TV channels where eminent guests are invited to speak for or against a topic. Mums yelling ‘ My children don’t listen’, kids shouting ‘ Our parents don’t listen’, wife sulking ‘ he never listens’ strengthen this verity. Mundane incidences empirically verify this fact that humans lack the art of harking. We still have to be repeatedly told ‘Could you kindly listen’. As per my interpretation it also indirectly states a truth so surreal, which is, even with two ears and a massive frequency range of human hearing spreading from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz, we are still bad listeners. This speech is an integral part of the play, as it expresses an opinion with conviction. Imagine such an important address such a crucial part of world history and still the general public is being asked to listen. A very famous speech by Mark Anthony in the equally famous play Julius Caesar starts with a line ‘ Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ and that is where the irony of the situation lies.
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