The Power of Words

In our previous blog we mentioned the potential of overly critical or nasty speech to encourage destructive behavior. This time we’ll reference the power of language to inspire and galvanize creative and productive behavior. This month, in fact, marks the anniversaries of two memorable statements of purpose and meaning in the human community.

News and information media have amply reported on the fiftieth anniversary of John Kennedy’s inaugural address, which gave us several stirring calls to positive action. Of the two most famous lines in that address, the first was a statement of commitment: “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe.”

The second was a call to service: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Kennedy not only challenged Americans to serve their community, he also created a mechanism to channel that service through the Peace Corps, to which thousands of Americans have devoted themselves.

This month also marks the seventieth anniversary of an address delivered in an even more global context. On January 6, 1941, when Franklin Roosevelt delivered his annual address to the Congress, most of the world’s major powers were already at war, but the United States was still technically neutral. Nevertheless, FDR spelled out for Congress and the world a statement of the four basic freedoms which he felt should serve as a solid foundation for a peaceful world. Those four freedoms ultimately became the basis of the Allied nations’ battle against fascism.

The most often quoted passage from that address goes like this:

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression – everywhere in the world. The second is the freedom of every person to worship God in his own way – everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want – which translated into world terms means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants – everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear – which translated into world terms means a worldwide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor – anywhere in the world.

Those four freedoms are still the most appropriate and most durable basis for a peaceful world order. Unfortunately, they are still out of reach for millions of people in dozens of nations. Nonetheless, it behooves citizens of the world’s leading nations to keep the spirit of FDR’s address alive.