The power of words

I am old enough now to have lived through many momentous events and heard many stirring speeches. I can remember the death of Winston Churchill and whether I agree with him politically or morally I still find listening to his speeches very stirring.


At the age of 11 I remember clearly being emotionally charged by the speech of Martin Luther King, a culmination of many horrendous events that we watched on an old black and white TV. These speeches obviously had poignancy because of the times they were spoken (who can forget in Northern Ireland the NEVER, NEVER, NEVER speech?)
The gift of oratory seems to be dead in the era of sound bytes and on line TV, the image now seems to be the means of communication but thankfully these historical words are immortalised for all to hear.