It is important to realise in this era of political spin that some of the greatest speeches ever given had impact because they expressed the profound truth and raw beauty of poetry. This is especially true of the speech given by Robert Kennedy delivered 4 April 1968 in Indianapolis, IN, following the assassination earlier that day of Martin Luther King (pictured left).
Race riots broke out in cities across America but not in Indianapolis. Robert Kennedy stood quietly before the distressed audience and spoke about someone close to him (His brother JFK) also being killed by a white man. But it was this poem by the Ancient Greek playwright, Aeschylus (525 – 456 BC)
that expressed the raw grief and crushing despair of that moment. Maybe, just maybe, finding the words to express such pain disarmed those who could only express their feelings through anger and violence. While this poem sites God it could have evoked Life. It is a universal poem about the human condition written over 2,500 years ago made tragically poignant by the assassination of Robert Kennedy two months later by a white man.
My favorite poem, my — 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.
My father was pretty much a life long Republican until Robert Kennedy. He took us to wait for over two hours along the railroad tracks just outside a horrific ghetto neighborhood in Washington DC from our suburban VA home. Four of his five sons and our mother. When the train passed he put his hand over his heart. I did not understand it all then, I was 10 years old. He was a quiet man, bur extremely bright. He said that the man who could possibly save our country from this war amongst it’s own people and the war in SE Asia was gone. I will never forget it, my son and nephews may never understand it. But we need a Robert Kennedy now, may we be blessed to find one for our nation and our world.