I don’t know why (okay, yes I do), but with the late news of tonight’s outcome, my mind turns to a speech RFK gave 40 years and seven months ago tomorrow (given what happened 40 years and seven months ago today), titled “The Mindless Menace of Violence.” The whole speech is here. Here’s an excerpt:
[W]e know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence. We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children’s future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge. Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution. But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can. Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.
We’re still learning, methinks, but these are the words I can’t get away from on this most intriguing evening.
Posted by Steve Vladeck on November 4, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Comments
Thanks Steve. The RFK speech is majestic for its humanity. And perhaps we can realize it.
Posted by: Charlie Martel | Nov 5, 2008 1:49:30 AM