My Favorite Public Pep Talks
“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” - Jerry Seinfeld
There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, and public speaking is one of them. It is one of those humiliating art forms that is best done by someone who is willing to put himself through the test of admiration. Like Alexander Gregg said, there are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience. In essence, he must appeal either to the quest for truth or the prejudices of others. If his aim is to display his own ability, he will ruin every cause he undertakes.
Among the million things that I have yearned to do, but have never had the guts to try nor the required knowledge to pull off, public speaking takes the cake. I don't know enough about this area to comment on it's necessity or otherwise a need for it's appreciation other than that I myself am in awe of people who are able to stand in front of a huge gathering and express their views so passionately and with such ease that I am left wondering how they did it and more than anything if they realize how much they have impacted me.
Here are some of my favorites.
∆ 350 BC Works by Demosthenes
∆ 430 BC Pericles's Funeral Oration by Pericles
∆ 1588 Speech to the Troops at Tilbury by Queen Elizabeth I of England.
∆ 1900 Russell Conwell : Acres of Diamonds
∆ 1934 Huey P. Long: "Every Man a King"
∆ 1942 Quit India Speech by Mahatma Gandhi
∆ 1947 Tryst with Destiny (The song of free India) by Jawaharlal Nehru
∆ 1962 General Douglas MacArthur: "Duty, Honor, Country"
∆ 1963 I have a dream, by Martin Luther King
∆ 1963 Malcolm X: "Message To The Grass Roots"
∆ 1964 Malcolm X: "The Ballot or the Bullet"
∆ 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr: "I've Been to the Mountaintop"
∆ 1999 Elie Wiesel: "The Perils of Indifference"
