To tame the savageness of man...and make more gentle the life of this world...

It is sad and tragically ironic that the attacks in London, that have thusfar been reported to have killed 50+ people, happened only days after my favorite British citizen (other than Tony Blair, who has performed admirably, by the way, in the wake of these attacks) gave his own view on why life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness matter to him....

In honor of Andrew's words about what he loves about America...and in honor of the gravitas that needs to be brought to our responses to these attacks in London...and the recognition -- from the attacks in London, in Madrid, and the ongoing and escalating insurgencies in both Iraq and Afghanistan -- that something is clearly amiss in our efforts against terrorism, right now...that terrorism, after the initiation of the war in Iraq, has clearly and without a doubt INCREASED...and not, as we would all have hoped, decreased...

In honor of Andrew's words and the American and international spirit needed to develop a more constructive international policy towards terrorism...I wanted to share what I think is the most beautiful political speech I have ever heard by an American politician...

On April 4th, 1968...Bobby Kennedy had the tragic duty of reporting to the world the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, earlier that day...

It is a speech better listened to than read, I think...so I would definitely advise going to this link and listening to his speech live as he delivered it in 1968...

Bobby Kennedy's impromptu eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King...April 4, 1968...Indianapolis, Indiana...

You can also find the link for this speech in the speech links section of my Tripod blog, Building a Better World... in the lower left hand corner...

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some very sad news for all of you -- Could you lower those signs, please? -- I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black -- considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible -- you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poem, my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King -- yeah, it's true -- but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love -- a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much."

Riots erupted all across America following King's death...

Indianapolis, where this speech was delivered, was spared...

Thank you, Bobby...for articulating what is so great about America...

...even during a time when America was divided and polarized...in the midst of a war against a terrible dictatorship/autocratic regime...and in serious soul-searching about whether it had lost its way...

A time much like today...

I just want to take a moment and apologize to anyone and everyone with whom I've conducted myself poorly and gone over the top with on the various forums that I've debated and/or discussed policy with, on...

The gravity of the CLEAR ESCALATION of terrorist violence in London, Iraq, and Afghanistan, right now, has sapped me of all partisan or personal animosities as a matter of dealing with this very serious threat...

We need to get these sons-a-bitches...and soon...

Love,
Ben