Who’s your inspiration? The Politics of Persuasion.

“I have a dream,” Martin Luther King.

“It’s not what your country can do for you. It’s what you can do for your country,” John F. Kennedy.

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” Ronald Reagan.

Important speeches, moving speeches, that motivate us to action have been with us during times of great change and upheaval for a long time. The first two examples motivated the Baby Boomer generation; the last, my own generation X.

You could go back to the ancient Greeks and Romans to find powerful speeches given by magnetic leaders.

During the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, Athens defended herself against war and plague amongst the backdrop of a devastated landscape. Many Athenians were angry and they placed blame on their leader Pericles.

Pericles rose up to the challenge:

“So far as I am concerned, if you are angry with me, you are angry with one who has, I think, at least as much ability as anyone to see what ought to be done, and to explain what he sees, one who loves his city and one who is above being influenced by money.”

“So, if at the time when you took my advice and went to war you considered that my record with regard to these qualities was even slightly better than that of others, then now surely, it is quite unreasonable for me to be accused of having done wrong...."

And after Julius Caesar was assassinated, Marc Antony rose to the challenge of a world spinning into civil war by giving his funeral oration:

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.”

Today, we are looking for the same leadership, the same call to action we expect especially during times of great change; unfortunately, we are sadly lacking it.

To me, many of our leaders have become either too politically entangled to find solutions to the great issues of the day, or they have become too complacent in their positions and therefore corruptible, or suspected of corruption by the public.

So, where do we find our inspiration if we do not see it in our leaders? We find it at home.

We find it on our street corners, within our places of worship, and on the doorsteps of our neighbors.

As a news reporter, I find many issues that needs fixing; some are small and some are great social problems like hunger, crime, blight, unemployment, and natural disasters. But, we have great potential to solve these problems.

For instance, I once covered an injustice done by a town to a family who owned horses. The town did not feel that the family should own these horses and fired the town inspector when he disagreed. After the story was placed, I heard that neighbors came to the beleaguered family’s defense by riding around their home on horseback. The town succumbed to public sentiment and backed down.

Until we have leaders who can really identify with the public’s needs, who can rise to the challenge, and motivate us with moving speeches and ideas, we must find inspiration from each other. Maybe, just maybe, our leadership can spring from the grassroots - neighbors caring for neighbors.