Many of the great moments in history were often accompanied by inspiring speeches that have since served to evoke the spirit of those moments to the following generations. They often take place during the most trying of situations where the easiest response would have been to succumb to fear and panic, for example Winston Churchill's speeches during the Second World War:
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'...
Perhaps the one thing all great speeches have in common - and the reason why they maintain their relevance through the ages - is they often contain some hope of a future time where the world is a better place. In doing so, these speeches tap into a yearning, a dream of a better world that all of us share, and makes that dream seem realistic and tangible.
Undoubtedly the success of the issue or campaign with which they are associated helps them to be remembered; for example, reading Martin Luther King's speeches brings to mind the entire struggle for civil rights in the U.S. These speeches would have been ringing in the ears of those working to bring about these changes and inspiring them to keep on going despite the hardship, so reading them can really help to evoke some of the atmosphere of what it was like at that time.
Many great speeches also have a conciliatory nature about them and reach out to the oppressing as well as the oppressed, such as Martin Luther King's famous 'I have a dream' speech:
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.... This reaching beyond sectarian differences gives a universal character to the speeches, and means they are used as inspiration in contexts quite different to where they were first created.
Finally, the great thing about inspiring speeches is they remind us of what is good in ourselves. We spend far too long convinced of the mundanity of our existence; speeches such as the ones above evoke the finest qualities in man, they evoke the finest qualities in each one of us, and infuse us with new belief in ourselves to face our own challenges that lie ahead of us.
The author, Shane Magee, contributes to http://www.writespirit.net, an website containing inspirational speeches, prose and poetry mantained by members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre.
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