Just a Few Words

Just a few words

Over history, great speeches are given and sometimes they are remembered, most of the time not.   Some words will be recalled and forever stand tall in history.

According to different sites, some of the greatest orators of our written era are these few men: 

Lincoln,    Churchill,     Ghandi,     JFK,     

Nelson Mandela,

    

Martin Luther King Jr.,      Reagan,   and    Obama

What speaker about which to write? Which one strikes a chord?

Winston Churchill did something utterly amazing: he saved England with his words.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island...

If we can stand up to him (Hitler), all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

...This was their finest hour.


Winston Churchill wrote six books about WW2, and forty-three books in total (which filled seventy-two volumes). When asked about how he would be remembered in history, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."

Incredible man. Incredible words.

About 2 minutes long

actual footage, Dunkirk

About 3 minutes

The Darkest Hour 

Actor Gary Oldman

Best Actor in 2018

Key scene

To my grandchild with love...

In her 84^th year, Amy Peck sensed that her time was growing short.  Winter would soon arrive and death with it.  While she still remained in her small house, Amy examined her imposing bookcase.  It held so much of her life.

The bottom shelf was weighted down with books from her college years when she first studied to become a medical doctor.  Circumstances forced her to become a pharmacist.  Amy brushed her hands along them.  Organic Chemistry.  Pharmaceutics.  Advanced Mathematics.  Biology and Anatomy.  Heavy tomes even then, but these books were as concrete now. 

The next row contained collections of sermons given by William Spurgeon, 1887.  These Amy inherited from her mother-in-law, Laura A. Peck.  Perhaps she treasured these books more than the first row?

The third shelf up was a collection of books given to her over the years from family.  Knowing that Amy was a voracious reader with a questing mind, family had chosen carefully from contemporary publications.

The final shelf was Amy’s favored book shelf.  It held the treasured books of poetry, her Bibles, journals of poetry she had written, photographs carefully placed in small albums…the representation of her life that was most accessible.

It was here that Amy Peck began the last part of her literary journey.  She pulled volume by volume out, one at a time.  Opening the musty cover with a pen poised over the fly-leaf, Amy considered the book.  Then she wrote. 

“To Susan  With love from, Grandma   Read and enjoy these words that meant so much to me”

Amy worked her way down the bookshelf with the help of her daughter Helen.  When the books were all assigned to people whom she felt believed would love them best, Amy felt was pleased; her journey was almost over.  

She had sent her beloved books forward, like precious gifts.

Will this happen in the future?  Will my grandchild hold one of my favorite books with her name “To….From….” written with love?  Will her child hold a grandmother’s treasured Treasure Island and appreciate that her grandma knew she would love each word?

Kinda hard to do with a Kindle.  

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What have we learned?

Today is the day when armistice was declared to end World War I.  It was a day specified for its numbers:  11th month, 11th day, at the 11th hour.  Papers were signed, soldiers went home, and the Great War, the War to end all wars was over.

Trying to explain this to a group of 5th graders is nearly impossible.  War has been made glamorous in Video games and dying is a temporary event.

So I always showed this Charlie Brown video, "What have we learned, Charlie Brown?"   Here is a clip of it:

No matter how many times I saw it, it gave me chills and tears.

There is a heart breaking song performed by Davey Arthur and The Fureys, called "The Green Fields of France".  Please listen to it:



I first heard this song at a live performance when we lived in Ireland.  There was a moment of absolute silence at the end of the song, before the applause.

What have we learned?