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The Nation's first chief executive took his oath of office in April in New York
City on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall on Wall Street.
General Washington had been unanimously elected President by the first
electoral college, and John Adams was elected Vice President because he
received the second greatest number of votes. Under the rules, each
elector cast two votes. The Chancellor of New York and fellow Freemason,
Robert R. Livingston administered the oath of office. The Bible on which the
oath was sworn belonged to New York's St. John's Masonic Lodge. The
new President gave his inaugural address before a joint session of the two
Houses of Congress assembled inside the Senate Chamber.
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
AMONG the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with
greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your
order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand,
I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with
veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest
predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the
asylum of my declining yearsa retreat which was rendered every day
more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to
inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste
committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of
the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to
awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful
scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence
one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the
duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own
deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my
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refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and
which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your
attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances,
and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in
place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to
the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters
selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I
behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or
attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the
comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great
assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the
foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable
principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be
exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens
and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every
satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is
no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy
and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness;
between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest
and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and
felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of
Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules
of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the
preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican
model of government are justly considered, perhaps,
as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the
American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with
your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power
delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the
present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against
the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.
Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which
I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall
again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of
the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every
alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective
government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a
reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public
harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how
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far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and
advantageously promoted.
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened
by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but
not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in
humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American
people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and
dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of
government for the security of their union and the advancement of their
happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the
enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on
which the success of this Government must depend.
Thomas Jefferson
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience
to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how
much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power
which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best,
and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
James Madison
First Inaugural Address
Saturday, March 4, 1809
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the Hall of
the House of Representatives (now National Statuary Hall). Subsequently
the oath by Presidents-elect, with few exceptions, was taken in the House
Chamber or in a place of the Capitol associated with the Congress as a
whole. The Vice Presidential oath of office for most administrations was
taken in the Senate Chamber. President Jefferson watched the ceremony,
but he joined the crowd of assembled visitors since he no longer was an
office-holder. The mild March weather drew a crowd of about 10,000
persons.
UNWILLING to depart from examples of the most revered authority, I avail
myself of the occasion now presented to express the profound impression
made on me by the call of my country to the station to the duties of which I
am about to pledge myself by the most solemn of sanctions. So
distinguished a mark of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate and
tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would under any
circumstances have commanded my gratitude and devotion, as well as
filled me with an awful sense of the trust to be assumed. Under the various
circumstances which give peculiar solemnity to the existing period, I feel
that both the honor and the responsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly
enhanced.
The present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel, and that of
our own country full of difficulties. The pressure of these, too, is the more
severely felt because they have fallen upon us at a moment when the
national prosperity being at a height not before attained, the contrast
resulting from the change has been rendered the more striking. Under the
benign influence of our republican institutions, and the maintenance of
peace with all nations whilst so many of them were engaged in bloody and
wasteful wars, the fruits of a just policy were enjoyed in an unrivaled
growth of our faculties and resources. Proofs of this were seen in the
improvements of agriculture, in the successful enterprises of commerce, in
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the progress of manufacturers and useful arts, in the increase of the public
revenue and the use made of it in reducing the public debt, and in the
valuable works and establishments everywhere multiplying over the face of
our land.
It is a precious reflection that the transition from this prosperous condition
of our country to the scene which has for some time been distressing us is
not chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor, as I trust, on any
involuntary errors in the public councils. Indulging no passions which
trespass on the rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the true
glory of the United States to cultivate peace by observing justice, and to
entitle themselves to the respect of the nations at war by fulfilling their
neutral obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality. If there be candor
in the world, the truth of these assertions will not be questioned; posterity
at least will do justice to them.
This unexceptionable course could not avail against the injustice and
violence of the belligerent powers. In their rage against each other, or
impelled by more direct motives, principles of retaliation have been
introduced equally contrary to universal reason and acknowledged law.
How long their arbitrary edicts will be continued in spite of the
demonstrations that not even a pretext for them has been given by the
United States, and of the fair and liberal attempt to induce a revocation of
them, can not be anticipated. Assuring myself that under every vicissitude
the determined spirit and united councils of the nation will be safeguards to
its honor and its essential interests, I repair to the post assigned me with
no other discouragement than what springs from my own inadequacy to its
high duties. If I do not sink under the weight of this deep conviction it is
because I find some support in a consciousness of the purposes and a
confidence in the principles which I bring with me into this arduous service.
To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having
correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality toward
belligerent nations; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion and
reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision of them by an
appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues and foreign partialities, so
degrading to all countries and so baneful to free ones; to foster a spirit of
independence too just to invade the rights of others, too proud to surrender
our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy prejudices ourselves and too
elevated not to look down upon them in others; to hold the union of the
States as the basis of their peace and happiness; to support the
Constitution, which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as
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in its authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the States
and to the people as equally incorporated with and essential to the success
of the general system; to avoid the slightest interference with the right of
conscience or the functions of religion, so wisely exempted from civil
jurisdiction; to preserve in their full energy the other salutary provisions in
behalf of private and personal rights, and of the freedom of the press; to
observe economy in public expenditures; to liberate the public resources
by an honorable discharge of the public debts; to keep within the requisite
limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and
trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republicsthat without standing
armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe; to
promote by authorized means improvements friendly to agriculture, to
manufactures, and to external as well as internal commerce; to favor in like
manner the advancement of science and the diffusion of information as the
best aliment to true liberty; to carry on the benevolent plans which have
been so meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors
from the degradation and wretchedness of savage life to a participation of
the improvements of which the human mind and manners are susceptible
in a civilized stateas far as sentiments and intentions such as these can
aid the fulfillment of my duty, they will be a resource which can not fail me.
It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path in which I am to tread
lighted by examples of illustrious services successfully rendered in the
most trying difficulties by those who have marched before me. Of those of
my immediate predecessor it might least become me here to speak. I may,
however, be pardoned for not suppressing the sympathy with which my
heart is full in the rich reward he enjoys in the benedictions of a beloved
country, gratefully bestowed or exalted talents zealously devoted through a
long career to the advancement of its highest interest and happiness.
But the source to which I look or the aids which alone can supply my
deficiencies is in the well-tried intelligence and virtue of my fellow-citizens,
and in the counsels of those representing them in the other departments
associated in the care of the national interests. In these my confidence will
under every difficulty be best placed, next to that which we have all been
encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being
whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been
so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are
bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent
supplications and best hopes for the future.
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James Monroe
First Inaugural Address
Tuesday, March 4, 1817
Because the Capitol was under reconstruction after the fire, Presidentelect Monroe offered to take his oath of office in the House Chamber of
the temporary "Brick Capitol," located on the site where the Supreme
Court building now stands. A controversy resulted from the inaugural
committee's proposals concerning the use of the House Chamber on the
second floor of the brick building. Speaker Henry Clay declined the use of
the hall and suggested that the proceedings be held outside. The
President's speech to the crowd from a platform adjacent to the brick
building was the first outdoor inaugural address. Chief Justice John
Marshall administered the oath of office.
present happy condition of the United States. They will best explain the
nature of our duties and shed much light on the policy which ought to be
pursued in future.
From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost
forty years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution
twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may
emphatically be called self-government. And what has been the effect? To
whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our foreign or
domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the
excellence of our institutions. During a period fraught with difficulties and
marked by very extraordinary events the United States have flourished
beyond example. Their citizens individually have been happy and the
nation prosperous.
Under this Constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with
foreign nations and between the States; new States have been admitted
into our Union; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honorable treaty,
and with great advantage to the original States; the States, respectively
protected by the National Government under a mild, parental system
against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a
wise partition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved
their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and
maturity which are the best proofs of wholesome laws well administered.
And if we look to the condition of individuals what a proud spectacle does it
exhibit! On whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our Union? Who
has been deprived of any right of person or property? Who restrained from
offering his vows in the mode which he prefers to the Divine Author of his
being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed in their
fullest extent; and I add with peculiar satisfaction that there has been no
example of a capital punishment being inflicted on anyone for the crime of
high treason.
Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these
beneficent duties might doubt it in trials which put to the test its strength
and efficiency as a member of the great community of nations. Here too
experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its favor. Just as
this Constitution was put into action several of the principal States of
Europe had become much agitated and some of them seriously convulsed.
Destructive wars ensued, which have of late only been terminated. In the
course of these conflicts the United States received great injury from
several of the parties. It was their interest to stand aloof from the contest,
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to demand justice from the party committing the injury, and to cultivate by a
fair and honorable conduct the friendship of all. War became at length
inevitable, and the result has shown that our Government is equal to that,
the greatest of trials, under the most unfavorable circumstances. Of the
virtue of the people and of the heroic exploits of the Army, the Navy, and
the militia I need not speak.
Such, then, is the happy Government under which we livea
Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is
formed; a Government elective in all its branches, under which every
citizen may by his merit obtain the highest trust recognized by the
Constitution; which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at
variance one portion of the community with another; a Government which
protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to
protect the nation against injustice from foreign powers.
Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cherish
our Union and to cling to the Government which supports it. Fortunate as
we are in our political institutions, we have not been less so in other
circumstances on which our prosperity and happiness essentially depend.
Situated within the temperate zone, and extending through many degrees
of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the varieties of
climate, and every production incident to that portion of the globe.
Penetrating internally to the Great Lakes and beyond the sources of the
great rivers which communicate through our whole interior, no country was
ever happier with respect to its domain. Blessed, too, with a fertile soil, our
produce has always been very abundant, leaving, even in years the least
favorable, a surplus for the wants of our fellow-men in other countries.
Such is our peculiar felicity that there is not a part of our Union that is not
particularly interested in preserving it. The great agricultural interest of the
nation prospers under its protection. Local interests are not less fostered
by it. Our fellow-citizens of the North engaged in navigation find great
encouragement in being made the favored carriers of the vast productions
of the other portions of the United States, while the inhabitants of these are
amply recompensed, in their turn, by the nursery for seamen and naval
force thus formed and reared up for the support of our common rights. Our
manufactures find a generous encouragement by the policy which
patronizes domestic industry, and the surplus of our produce a steady and
profitable market by local wants in less-favored parts at home.
Such, then, being the highly favored condition of our country, it is the
interest of every citizen to maintain it. What are the dangers which menace
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To secure us against these dangers our coast and inland frontiers should
be fortified, our Army and Navy, regulated upon just principles as to the
force of each, be kept in perfect order, and our militia be placed on the best
practicable footing. To put our extensive coast in such a state of defense as
to secure our cities and interior from invasion will be attended with
expense, but the work when finished will be permanent, and it is fair to
presume that a single campaign of invasion by a naval force superior to our
own, aided by a few thousand land troops, would expose us to greater
expense, without taking into the estimate the loss of property and distress
of our citizens, than would be sufficient for this great work. Our land and
naval forces should be moderate, but adequate to the necessary purposes
the former to garrison and preserve our fortifications and to meet the first
invasions of a foreign foe, and, while constituting the elements of a greater
force, to preserve the science as well as all the necessary implements of
war in a state to be brought into activity in the event of war; the latter,
retained within the limits proper in a state of peace, might aid in
maintaining the neutrality of the United States with dignity in the wars of
other powers and in saving the property of their citizens from spoliation. In
time of war, with the enlargement of which the great naval resources of the
country render it susceptible, and which should be duly fostered in time of
peace, it would contribute essentially, both as an auxiliary of defense and
as a powerful engine of annoyance, to diminish the calamities of war and to
bring the war to a speedy and honorable termination.
But it ought always to be held prominently in view that the safety of these
States and of everything dear to a free people must depend in an eminent
degree on the militia. Invasions may be made too formidable to be resisted
by any land and naval force which it would comport either with the
principles of our Government or the circumstances of the United States to
maintain. In such cases recourse must be had to the great body of the
people, and in a manner to produce the best effect. It is of the highest
importance, therefore, that they be so organized and trained as to be
prepared for any emergency. The arrangement should be such as to put at
the command of the Government the ardent patriotism and youthful vigor of
the country. If formed on equal and just principles, it can not be oppressive.
It is the crisis which makes the pressure, and not the laws which provide a
remedy for it. This arrangement should be formed, too, in time of peace, to
be the better prepared for war. With such an organization of such a people
the United States have nothing to dread from foreign invasion. At its
approach an overwhelming force of gallant men might always be put in
motion.
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Other interests of high importance will claim attention, among which the
improvement of our country by roads and canals, proceeding always with a
constitutional sanction, holds a distinguished place. By thus facilitating the
intercourse between the States we shall add much to the convenience and
comfort of our fellow-citizens, much to the ornament of the country, and,
what is of greater importance, we shall shorten distances, and, by making
each part more accessible to and dependent on the other, we shall bind the
Union more closely together. Nature has done so much for us by
intersecting the country with so many great rivers, bays, and lakes,
approaching from distant points so near to each other, that the inducement
to complete the work seems to be peculiarly strong. A more interesting
spectacle was perhaps never seen than is exhibited within the limits of the
United Statesa territory so vast and advantageously situated, containing
objects so grand, so useful, so happily connected in all their parts!
Our manufacturers will likewise require the systematic and fostering care
of the Government. Possessing as we do all the raw materials, the fruit of
our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend in the degree we have
done on supplies from other countries. While we are thus dependent the
sudden event of war, unsought and unexpected, can not fail to plunge us
into the most serious difficulties. It is important, too, that the capital which
nourishes our manufacturers should be domestic, as its influence in that
case instead of exhausting, as it may do in foreign hands, would be felt
advantageously on agriculture and every other branch of industry. Equally
important is it to provide at home a market for our raw materials, as by
extending the competition it will enhance the price and protect the cultivator
against the casualties incident to foreign markets.
With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations and to act
with kindness and liberality in all our transactions. Equally proper is it to
persevere in our efforts to extend to them the advantages of civilization.
The great amount of our revenue and the flourishing state of the Treasury
are a full proof of the competency of the national resources for any
emergency, as they are of the willingness of our fellow-citizens to bear the
burdens which the public necessities require. The vast amount of vacant
lands, the value of which daily augments, forms an additional resource of
great extent and duration. These resources, besides accomplishing every
other necessary purpose, put it completely in the power of the United
States to discharge the national debt at an early period. Peace is the best
time for improvement and preparation of every kind; it is in peace that our
commerce flourishes most, that taxes are most easily paid, and that the
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Andrew Jackson
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whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since
upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my
ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the
object of His divine care and gracious benediction.
Inaugural Address
of
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Great is this day, glorious is this date; and this moment, when our beloved
people rise to the apotheosis of independence, will be eternally memorable.
The 23rd of January will be for the Philippines, hereafter a national feast,
as is the Fourth of July for the American nation. And thus, in the same
manner that God helped weak America in the last century, when she fought
against powerful Albion (England), to regain her liberty and independence;
He will also help us today in our identical goal, because the ways of Divine
Justice are immutably the same in rectitude and wisdom.
A thousand thanks, honorable Representatives, for your parliamentary
work, which enables us and establishes in a public and authentic manner,
that we are a civilized nation and also a brave one; worthy, therefore, of
being freely admitted into the concerts of nations.
You have justly deserved the gratitude of the country and of the
government, in that you showed the entire world, by your wisdom, sound
sense, and prudence, that in this remote and heretofore unknown portion of
the world, the principles of European and American civilization are known,
and more than known; that intelligence and hearts here are perfectly in
accord with those of the most civilized nations; and that notwithstanding the
calumnious voice of our eternal detractors, there is here, finally, a national
spirit, which unites and forges together all Filipino hearts into a single idea
and single aspiration to live independent of any foreign yoke in the
democratic shadow of the Philippine Republic.
For this reason, on seeing consecrated in our constitutional work the
eternal principles of authority, of liberty, of order and justice, which all
civilized nations profess, as the most perfect guaranty of their actual
solidarity, I feel strength, pride, and am sincerely impelled, from the bottom
of my heart to shout
Long live the Philippine Republic!
Long live the Constitution!
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Long live their illustrious authors, the Representatives of the first Philippine
Congress!
America with undaunted spirit, for we know that upon the outcome of this
war depend the happiness, liberty, and security not only of this generation
but of the generations yet unborn.
Mr. High Commissioner, may I ask you to convey to the President of the
United States our profound gratitude for the noble sentiments expressed in
his proclamation. The Filipino people are particularly grateful for his abiding
interest in our welfare and for his pledge to assure and protect our freedom
and independence.
Gen. MacArthur, there are no words in my language that can express to
you the deep gratitude of the Filipino people and my own for your devotion
to our cause, the defense of our country, and the safety of our population. I
trust that the time will come when we may express this sentiment to you in
a more appropriate manner.
To all Americans in the Philippines, soldiers and civilians alike, I want to say
that our common ordeal has fused our hearts in a single purpose and an
everlasting affection.
My fellow countrymen, this is the most momentous period of our history. As
we face the grim realities of war, let us rededicate ourselves to the great
principles of freedom and democracy for which our forefathers fought and
died. The present war is being fought for these same principles. It demands
from us courage, determination, and unity of action, In taking my oath of
office, I make the pledge for myself, my government, and my people, to
stand by America and fight with her until victory is won. I am resolved,
whatever the consequences to myself, faithfully to fulfill this pledge. I
humbly invoke the help of Almighty God that I may have the wisdom and
fortitude to carry out this solemn obligation.
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raucous cries of the cynics we kept faith, and in that faith persevered, until
the passing of that terrible cloud.
We survived the agony, we passed the test.
The results of those endeavors are landmarks upon our nation now. We
have conquered the first obstacles first.
But our task is not done. For the task of nation-building never ends. We
must forge on.
You have given me the task of leadership by an overwhelming and
unprecedented mandate. I thank you for your trust.
I lead this nation into a new decade, the decade of the seventies a
decade that is one of the most crucial in our history as well as in the history
of Asia and of the world.
The world seeks to know whether man is indeed impelled by some strange
instinct to self-destruction or whether its sciences on the relationships of
men can catch up or overreach its natural sciences.
In Asia we must now forge a constructive unity and co-exist in purposeful
peace, not on terms that must yet be drawn by a conquering ideology, but
on bonds that now exist. For in the years of this difficult decade, Asia must
decide whether in this vast region of one of the greatest of the worlds
peoples, it will build a sanctuary, or set up continental prison.
Decision cannot much longer be delayed.
In our own land, we have just begun building a nation. We have had to
telescope in four years what other nations achieved in decades.
There, is a mortgage of dedication, of discipline, of self-abnegating
leadership in the billowing fields of green sprung from miracle rice; on every
road or bridge; on every school or hospital; on every house or irrigation; on
every farm or industry; on every community project we have built.
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chastise the profligate rich who waste the nations substance including its
foreign exchange reserves on persona comports and luxuries.
The nations capacity for growth is limited by its foreign exchange earnings.
Every dollar spent on self-indulgence is a dollar taken away from
employment, from welfare, from education from the nations social and
economic well-being.
The presidency will set the example of this official morality and oblige
others to follow. Any act of extravagance in government will be considered
not only an offense to good morals but also an act punishable with
dismissal from office.
With such a new ethic, we will surmount the problems we are confronting
now.
We must discard complacency embracing panic; rely on our efforts alone
without rejecting the support of others.
Let not the future observe that being virile in body we multiplied in number,
without increasing in spirit.
I do not demand of you more than I shall demand of myself and of
government. So seek not from government what cannot find in yourself.
In the solution of our problems, this government will lead.
But, the first duty that confronts us all is how to continue to grow in this
nation now a new heart, a new spirit that springs out of the belief that while
our dangers be many, and our resources few, there is no problem that
cannot be surmounted given but the will and courage.
Let every man be his own master, but let him first, and above all, be his
own charge.
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35
Inaugural address of
her excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
[Delivered at Our Lady of EDSA Shrine, Mandaluyong on January 20,
2001]
In all humility, I accept the Presidency of the Republic.
I do so with both trepidation and a sense of awe.
Trepidation, because it is now, as the Good Book says, a time to heal and a
time to build. The task is formidable, so I pray that we will all be one one
in our priorities, one in our values and commitments, and one because of
Edsa 2001.
A sense of awe, because the Filipino has done it again on the hallowed
ground of Edsa.
People Power and the oneness of will and vision have made a new
beginning possible. I cannot but recall at this point, therefore, Ninoy
Aquinos words:
I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino, and I
have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.
As we break from the past in our quest for a new Philippines, the unity, the
Filipinos sense of history, and his unshakeable faith in the Almighty that
prevailed in EDSA 86 and EDSA 2001 will continue to guide and inspire us.
I am certain that Filipinos of unborn generations will look back with pride to
EDSA 2001, just as we look back with pride to Mactan, the Katipunan and
other revolts, Bataan and Corregidor, and EDSA 86.
I am certain that pride will reign supreme as they recall the heroism and
sacrifices and prayers of Jaime Cardinal Sin, former Presidents Corazon
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Aquino and Fidel Ramos, the legislators who fought the good fight in
Congress, the leaders whose principles were beyond negotiation, the
witnesses in the impeachment trial who did not count the cost of testifying,
the youth and students who walked out of their classes to be here at EDSA,
the generals in the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police, and
the Filipino out there who stood up to be counted in these troubled times.
The Filipino, crises and all, is truly worth living and dying for.
Ngunit saan tayo tutungo mula rito?
Jose Rizal, the first to articulate self-determination in a free society,
provides the answer.
Rizal counseled the Filipino to lead a life of commitment. He must think
national, go beyond self.
A stone is worthless, Rizal wrote, if it is not part of an edifice.
We are the stones, and the Philippines is our edifice.
On many occasions I have given my views on what our program of
government should be. This is not the time or place to repeat them all.
However, I can tell you that they converge on four core beliefs.
1. We must be bold in our national ambitions, so that our challenge
must be that within this decade, we will win the fight against poverty.
2. We must improve moral standards in government and society, in
order to provide a strong foundation for good governance.
3. We must change the character of our politics, in order create fertile
ground for true reforms. Our politics of personality and patronage
must give way to a new politics of party programs and process of
dialogue with the people.
4. Finally, I believe in leadership by example. We should promote solid
traits such as work ethic and a dignified lifestyle, matching action to
rhetoric, performing rather than grandstanding.
The first of my core beliefs pertains to the elimination of poverty. This is our
unfinished business from the past. It dates back to the creation of our
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INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY RAMON MAGSAYSAY
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES
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this
the
this
no
I have been warned that too much is expected of this administration, that
our people expect the impossible. For this young and vigorous nation of
ours, nothing is really impossible!
Let us have faith in ourselves, the same faith that fired the heroic
generation of revolution. They waged and won their struggle with nothing
but bolos in their hands and courage in their hearts. Without political
training and experience, they wrote a constitution comparable with the best,
and established the first republic in Asia. Our own generation was told by
doubters and enemies that we would never have independence from the
United States. We live today under a free and sovereign Republic. Our faith
was fulfilled.
Today, we are told anew that it is impossible to do what must be done. But
our people, sustained by God, under whose protection we have placed our
destiny and happiness, and strengthened by an abiding faith in His
goodness and mercy our people, united and free, shall shape a future
worthy of our noble heritage if we but act; act together; act wisely; act with
courage; and act unselfishly, in a spirit of patriotic dedication.
45
ESSAY
46
only three. I got out of the bathtub to answer her crackling long-distance
call.
Then it was Sunday, so Dad said get ready for mass. We didnt question.
He helped us tug and wriggle into our snowsuits, and we slid our feet into
plastic bread bags before yanking on our boots. He pushed open the door
into the shrieking tunnel of white. We trudged between the walls of snow to
the unplowed road. Follow me, Dad said. Step where Im stepping; this part
will hold our weight. Except sometimes we couldnt match his stride, or the
snow wouldnt hold our weight and Julies boot or my boot would crunch
through crust and wed plummet to the groin, feeling nothing below but
more snow. On the count of three, Dad said, and hoisted us out, and we
battled on, snow melting into our boots, heads lowered against the wind.
When we reached the plowed road, we scrambled down, easier walking. I
couldnt tell how far we had to go. It hurt to look up.
At last, the dark church loomed. We climbed the stone steps to the doors.
Locked. My father raised his gloved fist and knocked. He must have known,
even as he knocked, but still he knocked. There was no sign on the door
saying that mass was cancelled. But why should the priests post a sign?
Probably they couldnt even get out of the rectory themselves.
Righteo, said my father, slowly turning back the way we had
come. Righteo. Whatever he felt thengazing out over the tundra, the
alien tundra, all the mailboxes and road signs and newspaper vending
machines and parking meters blighted and buriedwasnt something he
shared. What he shared was, Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
We descended the steps, back into the scouring wind. I knew now that
white hurt worse than red. Where was everybody? Elderly couple, found in
their basement, dead of hypothermia. Fourteen-year-old boy, poisoned by
carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car his dad was trying to dig out
from a snow bank. Another shovelers heart attack. Volunteers with
snowmobiles taking doctors to hospitals.
Every part of my body was scalding cold, but one part scalded coldest: my
neck, my plump childs neck. The wind was wily, cupping my lowered chin
48
and arrowing along the inch of skin before my parkas zipper. The wind, like
a squirrel wielding knives. How much farther? I tried to step where my
father was stepping. I tried to use his body as a shield. Family of three or
four, frozen dead on the road, hadnt even gone to mass. It was a sin to
skip mass. If you were a sinner when you died, you went to hell.
Finally, I did it, the thing Id been contemplating for the last half mile. I
shouted at my dads back, asking for his scarf. I didnt want to ask. I wasnt
a child who asked. And I knew he must be cold, too. Yet I asked, and when
I did, he turned, already unwrapping his red-and-black striped scarf. He
squatted and tied it around my neck, he wound it once, he wound it twice,
he wound it three times, he smiled at me, his handsome Black Irish smile,
and behind his scarf, which covered my neck all the way to the tip of my
nose, I smiled, too. And thought I might make it, after all.
Why are people nervous about becoming parents? Children are so gullible.
So stupid. For years, Id think of this as a happy memory, my father
snugging his scarf around my neck.
But eventually I corrected myself. First, I heard my parents late-night
argument, the barb about Dad dragging us to church in a blizzard, over two
miles round trip. And in time, I recognized the catholicism of my fathers
rigidity, the Victorian strictures of our house. And eventually, I realized that if
he were going to foot-slog us through a blizzard, he should have damn sure
dressed us in scarves.
And so, with each year, with each time my thoughts are blown back to the
Blizzard of 79, I unwind that scarf, unwind its loops around my neck. With
my self-pity I unwind it; with my self-righteousness I unwind it; even with the
care I take dressing my own soft children, I unwind it. The very care I take
Here are your mittens, kitten; here are your warmest socksis a
reprimand, and then the scarf is off my neck. Yet still I worry it: I pull out the
threads, pluck and pull and release them to the wind, the wind that shall
never again find the neck of my father, my handsome father, for he is
shielded from it, as he is shielded from me, for he is below the earth and
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has been for years and cares not for the ways I remember him, or
remember remembering him.
50
Jane Bernstein
These days, it's common for couples to get married by a layperson with
credentials bought online. But in 2003, the first time I was asked to officiate,
so few people knew this was an option that whenever I mentioned it, I got a
bug-eyed look and a lot of questions. You can do that? You can just be a
minister?
You, who didnt attend divinity school, they meant. You, who had a bat
mitzvah.
Is that even legal?
I got all these questions because I couldnt stop talking about my role in the
upcoming wedding. I was honored and moved, busting at the seams with
delight.
A wedding announcement might have referred to me as a friend of the
family, though that hardly did justice to the long, tender history I shared
with Lis, the bride-to-be. Her mothers pregnant belly was the first Id ever
touched. Her baby pictures filled my photo album before my own daughters
were born.
The day she asked if Id officiate, I bought books about wedding
ceremonies. Then I went on line and became a Universal Life minister. It
cost me eleven dollars. For an extra eight dollars, I could have purchased a
sign for my dashboard, identifying me as clergy, but though I was enticed
by visions of endless free parking in New York City, I declined. I found the
churchs mission statement on the website: we were all children of the
same universe, all of us worthy of the right to be ordained, no matter what
our spiritual background. Yes, I thought, after reading that. That seemed
true. Even so, I dismissed this ministry as a benign scam, a backdoor way
for me to marry Lis and Troy.
Though Id been married once and had attended many weddings, before I
opened those how to plan a wedding books, all I really knew about
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weddings was that the groom came down the aisle first, followed by the
bride in white on the arm of a father. A rabbi or minister spoke; friends and
family members did readings, often Corinthians 13:4-7 (Love is patient,
love is kind. . . .) or Shakespeares Sonnet 116 (Let me not to the
marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. . . .). The best man fumbled
while searching for the ring; then, the groom fumbled while trying to fit it
onto the brides trembling finger. We all slid to the edges of our seats and
waited with communal bated breath for the kiss, and when at last the bride
and groom fell into each others arms, the tension in the room broke, and
we all laughed and cheered.
But I couldnt have named the sequence of events and hadnt known that in
Judeo-Christian weddings, it goes this way, most often: procession,
opening remarks, charge to the couple, exchange of vows, ring exchange,
pronouncement, kiss, closing remarks, recessional.
After I finished reading the wedding books, I understood that the wedding
ceremony is as precise a form as a sonnet or a sonata. The venue might
be different (backyard, country club, seaside, church), as well as the music,
the readings by friends, the vows, the officiants, but within the basic
structure is a story that goes something like this: once, these two people
were separate; now, theyre about to become a couple; welcome them into
your community. When the ceremony was successful and we were drawn
into the story by moments of genuine emotion, we didnt see the formal
structure or think of it as a rite of passage. At least, I didnt. I hadnt thought
of the ceremony as the time when a couple goes public with what
beforehand had been a private relationship.
At the time, I was six years into a happy divorce and had no desire to be
married again. But I fell deeply in love with the idea of marriage while
reading about every aspect of weddings, from the ceremony to the
possibilities these unions held.
By the time Lis and I sat together to plan for the big day, she and her
fianc, Troy, had already made most of the big decisions. Our job was to go
over each step, to fit in the readings and discuss the details. Where would
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the musicians stand? How many unity rituals should they include? What
material should they use for the Celtic hand binding?
Then I went shopping. Id planned to wear something that was ministerial
and ended up buying a full-length dress, rust-colored, with flowing sleeves
and an irregular hem. More plumage than Presbyterian.
At the end of October, I flew to Madison, Wisconsin, where the happy
couple, raised in no religion but culturally Christian, one might say, would
be married by a Jewish minister in the Gates of Heaven Synagogue. The
mid-19th century buildingwhich is now an historic landmark, used by the
public for a variety of purposeshad a balcony, where the women had sat
in yesteryear, and a bimah, where I stood while the bride processed down
an aisle so narrow her voluminous gown brushed the sides of the pews. It
brought me back to the night in western Massachusetts when her mother
had lifted her long shirt and I had placed my hand against her hard belly.
How intimate that long-ago moment had been, how connected Id felt with
that unborn child, and now with the lovely young bride, with her flushed
cheeks and strawberry blonde hair.
I worked very hard not to cry as she approached. This is not about you, I
told myself each time I felt a catch in my throat. This is not about you.
The reception was held at a farmhouse just outside Madison, decorated
with pumpkins, Indian corn, and baskets of candy bars. When I took in the
guests milling about, I began to laugh. The brides unclea Luddite, appletree pruner, and former celibate guru who now had a wife and sonwas
chowing down on candy. And there was my own former husband, with
flowing white hair, red suspenders, and ill-fitting thrift-shop jacket. His
girlfriend was beside him. I waved my arms and hurried to their table. I was
so happy to be single.
Long ago, I had loved this man in a way Ive never loved anyone before or
since. Madly. Blindly. Head over heels. Drunk with love. Drunk on the night
he pulled me into a strangers bathroom and proposed to me.
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carried the groom over the threshold on my back: it was the punch line of a
long-standing private joke. I was crazy about him.
In time, we had children, a rundown house, a dog, a better house. We had
some fun and then a lot of heartache. When I thought Id die if I had to live
with him any longer, I left. By then, wed been together nearly twenty years.
Some months after we separated, he bought me a book for my birthday.
When I pulled off the wrapping paper, I saw the title in fat black
letters: Guilty. My gut twisted. Then I saw that it was written by Harold
Rothwax, the judge whod married us.
To Jane, with all my love, my husband had written on the flyleaf, as if I was
not guilty after all.
Almost thirty years after our wedding day, as I slid into the seat beside my
former husband and his girlfriend, the love and anger and guilt had long
ago vanished. I was giddy with relief that he was living with someone else.
For months after Lis and Troys wedding, whenever an impending marriage
was mentioned, I jumped up and cried, I can marry you! Im a minister! I
can do it. I said this once at the copy machine at work, where a colleague
was talking about a commitment ceremony she and her partner were
planning. I can marry you! Same-sex marriage wasnt yet legal in
Pennsylvania, but this didnt stop me. Ill go to Massachusetts! I can marry
you there!
How nice of me to offer, she said. Then she gathered her papers and left.
I felt a little foolish. I also realized I didnt want to marry her. I didnt know
her well enough.
My standards continued to evolve. I decided Id only marry couples whose
relationships seemed loving and durable. I wanted to feel their commitment
to each other, to believe that they had the ability to hang on in good times
and bad, in sickness and in health, etc. Not that it mattered how seriously I
took my role as Universal Life minister since no one expressed any interest
in my services. For the next eleven years, the only weddings I attended
55
were as a guest. All were formal affairs with mainstream members of the
clergy officiating.
And so much crying! I had held back my tears when I married Lis and Troy,
but as a guest, I gushed. Sometimes, I cried because the bride and groom
were so fresh and lovely, and when I saw them trembling with emotion, I
was reminded of all the obstacles they faced and wanted more than
anything for life to be sweet for them. I wanted to believe their tender love
might last.
Once I cried because the groom, previously remote and unemotional, burst
into tears at the sight of his bride walking toward him, with her swanlike
neck; pale, bare shoulders; and fitted gown nipped at her tiny waist.
Another time I cried because they were so young and unformed, and all I
could think was: Oh man, you have no idea whatsoever.
Only once, I didnt cry. This wedding was held in the basement of a
Presbyterian church. He was in his early thirties, divorced once, widowed
once; she was pregnant and had a little girl with a prior husband. Someone
handed each guest a flower when we walked into the auditorium. We took
our seats and waited. On the stage was a large rug with a maze printed
upon it. The bride and groom walked through the maze in different
directions, solemn and silent, while we clutched our wilting flowers. It
seemed a troubling metaphor to watch these two lost souls, each on a
separate path, neither able to find the other.
Sitting beside me while the bride and groom were lost on that maze was a
man Id met at the end of my fifties. As soon as we moved in together,
friends started asking if we planned to get married. Usually I brushed off
the question by saying, I did that once. Watching the befuddled couple, it
occurred to me that if Id come of age in a different time and had felt
compelled to marry every lover with whom I cohabited, Id have to count
him as husband number five. I imagined telling someone, I did that four
times. It would make me sound like some unstable Hollywood starlet of
yesteryear: Zsa Zsa Gabor minus the glamour and Hungarian
accent. Whats her problem? people would think. He would seem a little
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The man who sat beside me, clutching his flower and watching the maze
walkers, is the perfect man for this season of my life. He would never pull
me into a bathroom to propose or let me carry him on my back. Though his
eyes didnt well up at the sight of me, hed never fallen into terrifying rages
or slept in the car instead of coming home. When I thought about marriage,
I was reminded that I would never have chosen him when I was young.
Maybe those early relationships got me ready for the one I had now.
I loved him, loved our stable life together, could not imagine what might tear
us asunder. Why not get married? Friends of our vintage pointed out the
practical reasons to wed, the tax advantages, the doubled social security. I
listened and thought, Ugh. Is that what its come to?
Then I thought, The only marrying I want to do is as a minister.
Finally, eleven years after standing on the bimah in the Gates of Heaven, I
was asked to officiate at another wedding. My former husband was dead by
then. The maze walkers had divorced. Lis and Troy were about to have a
second child.
Eddie, the groom-to-be, was a cinematographer: warm, levelheaded, fun.
He lived in my house on and off for a year while shooting my older
daughters documentary, sleeping in a small room off the kitchen I still call
Eddies room. One night during his stay, a woman came to visit: a
playwright, pale and willowy, with long hair and a big laugh, the kind of
person whose generosity of spirit you can feel the moment she enters a
room. When she arrived, the temperature changed. I could feel their mutual
attraction. Eight years after that night, they decided to get married.
If I could have chosen one couple to marry, I would have chosen them.
Yes, I said, when Eddie asked. Absolutely yes.
The venue for what would end up being the first of two consecutive
ceremonies was at the Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks, where Id
once done a residency. After my ecstatic yes, Eddie reminded me that I had
encouraged him and Andrea to apply, and they had. It was there, on
Utowana Lake, theyd first talked about marriage. So theyd thought it was
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fitting that I officiate at this place, where they had deepened their
commitment to each other and made the decision to wed.
These days, the list of people legally permitted to officiate at weddings
registered in the City of New York includes the expected officials: judges,
justices of the peace, city clerks at all levels, and the mainstream pastoral
crowd made up of priests, ministers, and rabbis, active and emeritus. There
is also a mind-boggling list of others, including apostle, elder, guru, imam,
lecturer, mayor, practitioner, rinpoche, roshi, sensei, swami, and vicar.
That said, your sensei or rinpoche needs to have a notarized proof of
identity and information about their church. Because my church does not
publish a directory, the City of New York demanded additional
documentation that certified the churchs beliefs and the reasons for its
being.
The Universal Life Church had seemed a bit of a con in 2003, but that was
before the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, before all the public
conversation about those who had been unfairly shut out, denied the legal
and financial benefits of marriage, denied the ability to stand before
members of their community and say, I do.
Id moved twice since I had last officiated and could no longer find the
books Id bought in 2003. Not that it mattered. Now there were hundreds of
Internet sites to help prospective brides and grooms plan their ceremony.
There were for-profit sites, with ads for wedding planners and brides
magazines, and sites with advice for Unitarians and Jews, seniors, atheists,
Wiccans, anarchists, couples of every gender. The sequence of events was
the same.
I got my credentials in order, arranged for transportation to the
Adirondacks. Two weeks before the wedding, we had our first conversation
about the ceremony. When I asked what they had in mind, Eddie said they
were thinking maybe the guests could pick up something from the ground
that represented space or energy: a feather or a rock, maybe. Then
everyone would sit in a circle while a friend played music, and each person
could speak about what the offerings symbolized. They also wanted a
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I was so taken by this: their decision to marry was deeper and more
meaningful than what Id expected to hear. It illuminated the divide in me
that I hadnt fully acknowledged. In everyday life I was unsentimental, a
little jaded, perhaps. If I hadnt seen it all, Id seen enough. And yet there
was a place inside me, untouched by life experience, that still held onto the
dream of undying romantic lovemad, boundless love. That was the story
Id wanted to see enacted at a wedding. I had to admit it was the reason I
resisted getting married. I wanted a grand statement, the bended knee, and
overflowing eyes. Not drunk, but drunk with love.
Eddie and Andrea seemed very wise to me. Their love was seasoned; it
had been tested. To say I know you well and choose you as my
spouse was a richer, more hopeful story than the one Id been waiting to
hear.
I arrived at Blue Mountain on Friday afternoon, a day before the wedding. A
dozen guests were already busy, making flower arrangements and
preparing food in the retreat centers huge kitchen. Eddies father was
marinating meat for the eighty people attending that nights barbeque.
Children were squeezing oranges and shaping cookies while grownups
diced vegetables and washed pots by hand. One friend was mixing batter
for the first of nineteen cakes she would bake over the next twelve hours.
On the morning of the wedding, a crew prepared a grand buffet breakfast
with chilaquiles, hash browns, and clafoutis. A theater director
choreographed the ceremony that would be performed later that day.
Friends would mount flags, play the mandolin, sing, and tell stories. Never
had I seen so many people work so joyously to make an event happen.
Only the weather failed to cooperate, so Eddie and Andreas wedding
ceremony wasnt on the dock, as they had intended. Instead, we gathered
around the stone fireplace, adults in folding chairs, children cross-legged
on the floor. The musicians sat on either side of the hearth, along with the
friends and family members asked ahead of time to speak on passion, on
patience, on fun.
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They were so beautiful as they slowly processed: Eddie with his shiny curls
and burgundy jacket and Andrea in a silk gown her friends had dyed her
favorite shade of green. They joined hands and faced this community who
had promised to welcome and support them. And there was trembling, yes.
And there were tears of emotion. They fumbled with the rings. They
fumbled to find and unfold the paper on which theyd written their vows.
The guests sat upright, waiting for them to kiss, and when they did, we
laughed and cheered. We wished for their love to endure. We had reason
to believe it would.
62
Elizabeth Mosier
When I talk about my volunteer work at the Independence National Park
Archeology Laboratory in Philadelphia, people often ask me if Ive taken
anything. Apparently, many people would pocket a sherd of broken glass or
pottery as a souvenir if given half a chance. But these fragments of
Colonial history dont tempt me; they seem sacred, imbued with other
peoples stories. Besides, there are too many pieces for any one to be
precious. I have only to enter the labs storeroom and stand amid the floorto-ceiling rows of cartons (more than a million artifacts hauled up from a
mile-square block of backyard privy pits) to feel the weight of history. Two
sitesone named for the Presidents House, which once stood at Sixth and
Market; the other for the National Constitution Center, which now stands on
the vast lawn across the streethave yielded more treasures than the dig
at Colonial Williamsburg. It will take ten years to process it all.
Todays assignmentbrushing diluted adhesive across tiny field specimens
to seal the numbers inked onto hundreds of sherdsis Zen-like in its
tedium. Hours pass, marked by the transfer of pieces, one by one, from
mesh tray to aluminum, as the empty bakers rack is slowly filled. My time
to think, I tell my friends. But really, I love the work because it requires just
enough focus so that I cant think. I cant think about my mother, who is
dying slowly and furiously. My grief is an unpacked box of sharp pieces
stacked in a dark storeroom; I lug around a catalog of unfinished business.
This is my break from that.At my mothers memory care community in
Phoenix, I look out across the parking lot and see a cinder-block fence and,
beyond it, dull taupe houses made of chicken wire and stucco. My mother
sees a timeline of her accomplishmentsyears bundled into numbered lots
dotting the desert, constellations of housing developments named
Saddleback Homes, The Meadow, Scottsdale Vista, Heritage Village,
Mountainside Estates. There is no convincing her that these
arent her houses, the three-dimensional evidence of her long career in real
estate.
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Thats what I have to look at while Im locked up in this prison, she says,
gesturing to the space surrounding the gazebo where we sit. Do you know
how awful it is to be herewhen I used to be there?
Her arm hangs in the air for a moment, as loose as a marionettes. Lately,
her movements seem detached from her intentions, inspired instead by her
bodys memory. I feel that way, toodisconnectedsitting in this ridiculous
gazebo in the center of a burnt-grass courtyard a few days before
Christmas. I am performing, directing myself from a seat somewhere in the
audience. I dont want to be here, but this is what its come to.
A man from the state came yesterday. He says I dont belong here, she
says.
Would you like to open your presents? I ask.
Youre not even listening to me, she says.
I am listening.
Im going to kill myself.
I am performing, directing myself from a seat somewhere in the audience. I
dont want to be here, but this is what its come to.
Suicide has always been her backup plan, first voiced when I was ten years
old, a child with my ear pressed against the hollow bedroom door while she
sobbed into her pillow about a hairbrush she couldnt find and about ending
her life. Even then, I knew her complaintI have nothing! You kids take
everything!was the screw-top cap on the deep jar of her grief. I sensed,
too, that her dire plan would soon be abandoned, just like the weight-loss
diets and new enthusiasms (ESP, horoscope, Phoenix Suns basketball,
genealogy) and unopened patterns for child-sized clothes I recently found
in the drawers of the old baby dresser in the back of her closet. For years, I
listened at that locked door, one hand on the brass knob, reassured by her
sobbing because it meant she was not dead.
You dont mean that, I say.
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the til-death-us-do-part types, and your parents are the kind who throw
away twenty years over a drinking-directly-out-of-the-milk-jug argument.
Oh. And then this. Living together before marriage increases the odds of
divorce by 33 percent. Shit. Youre doomed. You rent separate apartments
for appearances, but youve been sneaking around and living together in
one of them for the past year. Whats worse is all the years of sneaking
around with your high school boyfriend, the one you are dying to marry, the
one you called last night, praying to the Almighty Christ that hed agree to
run away with you so you wouldnt now be processing to the altar with your
false intentions and some incalculable percentage of certainty that this
union will not last.
Forty-four percent of first marriages end in divorce.
Check.
A couple of years after your first marriage ends, you scramble to the justice
of the peace. You time the ceremony impeccably: as soon as the last bell
rings, the two of you, both teachers, squeal out of the school parking lots
one middle, one elementaryand head for the OB/GYNs office, where
somebody dips a stick in an inch of your pee and delivers the verdict.
Youve already lined up the judge just in case, and after the doctors
appointment, when you stop to fill up your fiancs Honda at the Shell
station, you say, So, do you still want to go through with it? And he does.
So you do.
The judge looks at your application and says, Ohhh. Thats not a good
sign, that shes been married before. He sucks something out of his teeth
and squints a little at your soon-to-be, maybe kind of encouraging him to
rethink this whole thing. Youre pissed. How dare he question your
commitment? Asshole. Surely you think of this later when the ink is drying
on your divorce papers, and you acknowledge the bastards grasp of the
math.
Up to 34 percent of second marriages for people over the age of 25 end in
divorce.
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Check.
Some sources posit that 73 percent of third marriages end in divorce. But
this time, you ignore the math because this timeget this!!youre
marrying the old high school sweetheart, your one, true love, the one who
crowded your first marriage. Of course, this one is going to stick because
its so romantic, right? Reunited and it feels so good, right? What could
possibly go wrong, right? Yeah. Two years later, youve had your second
kid and your third affair, and youre single again.
Now, according to LegalHandle.com, a shady website that proclaims its
content is for entertainment purposes only, 93 percent of fourth marriages
end in divorce within five years, and youre inclined to believe it even
though your own fourth marriage lasted more than fifteen. At the end of
number four, you swore you would never, ever, ever walk that plank aisle
again. But here you are, happily married for five-and-one-fourth years to
lucky number five, and goddammit, you ought to be an expert by now.
His family threw a royal fit when you married, and one of his sisters
declared he was going to end up broke and broken, which made you kind
of hate her with a white-hot passion for a while. But youre over it, and
neither of you has anything to prove to anybody. You experience the normal
ecclesiastical highs and desire-to-strangle-you-in-your-sleep lows of
marriage, and you really cant imagine life any other way. Hes been
married almost as many times as you have, and you can both recite the
agreed-upon reasons that the marriages happened in the first place as well
as the causes of their deaths. The latter are much easier to pinpoint:
infidelity, money squabbles, disagreements over child-raising, job stress,
incompatibility, immaturity, growing apart, losing that lovin feelin. Those
things are easy to spot. Whats confounding is why anyone ever gets
married. Anyone. For example, your official first boyfriend from third grade,
Chriswho, it turns out, liked you but actually had a crush on your dad,
who looked like Mr. Brady. Yeah.
Exactly two weeks after SCOTUSs 2015 marriage equality ruling, Chris
married his longtime love, Victor. Naturally, the Facebook announcement of
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The morning of your fifth wedding, an ashen first-of-January sky, low over
the shallow waves of the Atlantic, threatens to spoil your beach ceremony.
Bleary-eyed at the breakfast buffet on the fourth floor of an oceanfront hotel
on Tybee Island, Georgia, with Gods view of the shore, youre irritated,
worried that your dream venue isnt going to pan out. Youre sipping coffee,
picking at some buttery grits, when you spot the pair of silver dolphins
somersaulting out of the water. They are as mysterious and unexpected as
finding true love at forty-five, and the surprise fills you with hope. Two hours
later, the sun has burned away the gray scrim, and the ocean blurs into
azure heavens, making the perfect backdrop for the ceremony. Your
minister, his hair still dripping from a morning paddle-surfing expedition,
draws a gigantic heart in the sand and positions you and your intended
inside. Your familywhove all traveled hours and hours to witness this
joininggather at the point, their hair askew in the salty breeze, their shoes
flung off or dangling from two fingers, bare feet barely tamping down the
euphoria waiting to spill over after the I-dos. At half-past eleven, the
minister intones, Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God
to bless this union, and you ignore all the questions, all the probabilities
and uncertainties, and all the mathexcept the only important equation:
1/2 + 1/2 = one.
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70
DECLAMATION
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Bad Girl
Hey! Everybody seems to be staring at me..
You! You! All of you!
How dare you to stare at me?
Why? Is it because I'm a bad girl?
A bad girl I am, A good for nothing teen ager, a problem child?
That's what you call me!
I smoke. I drink. I gamble at my young tender age.
I lie. I cheat, and I could even kill, If I have too.
Yes, I'm a bad girl, but where are my parents?
You! You! You are my good parents?
My good elder brother and sister in this society where I live?
Looklook at meWhat have you done to me?
You have pampered and spoiled me, neglected me when I needed you
most!
Entrusted me to a yaya, whose intelligence was much lower than mine!
While you go about your parties, your meetings and gambling session
Thus I drifted away from you!
Longing for a father's love, yearning for a mother's care!
As I grew up, everything changed!
You too have changed!
You spent more time in your poker, majong tables, bars and night clubs.
You even landed on the headlines of the newspaper as crooks, peddlers
and
racketeers.
Now, you call me names, accuse me of everything I do to myself?
Tell me! How good are you?
If you really wish to ensure my future
Then hurry.hurry back home! Where I await you, because I need you
Protect me from all evil influences that will threaten at my very own
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understanding
But if I am bad, really badthen, you've got to help me!
Help me! Oh pleaseHelp me!
Juvenile Delinquent
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And in school, I heard nothing but the echoes of the voices of my teachers
torturing me with these words. "Why waste your time in studying, you cant
even divide 100 by 5! Go home and plant sweet potatoes".
I may have the looks of Audrey Hepburn, the calmly voice of Nathalie Cole.
But thats not what you can see in me. Heres a young girl who needs
counsel to enlighten her way and guidance to strenghten her life into
contentment.
Honorable judge, friends and teachersis this the girl whom you
commented a juvenile delinquent?.
My parents ignored me, my teachers sneered at me and my friends, they
neglected me. One night I asked my mother to teach me how to appreciate
the values in life. Would you care what she told me? "Stop bothering me!
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Cant you see? I had to dress up for my mahjong session, some other time
my child". I turned to my father to console me, but, what a wonderful thing
he told me. "Child, heres 500 bucks, get it and enjou yourself, go and ask
your teachers that question".
And in school, I heard nothing but the echoes of the voices of my teachers
torturing me with these words. "Why waste your time in studying, you cant
even divide 100 by 5! Go home and plant sweet potatoes".
I may have the looks of Audrey Hepburn, the calmly voice of Nathalie Cole.
But thats not what you can see in me. Heres a young girl who needs
counsel to enlighten her way and guidance to strenghten her life into
contentment.
Honorable judge, friends and teachersis this the girl whom you
commented a juvenile delinquent?.
But when unhappiness had dragged him down, him, too, to the level of the
vanquished, he had to think of these things. Only a little while ago he had
blamed Olivier for plunging into futile remorse and vain compassion for all
the wretchedness that men suffer and inflict. Now he went even farther:
with all the vehemence of his mighty nature he probed to the depths of the
tragedy of the universe: he suffered all the sufferings of the world, and was
left raw and bleeding. He could not think of the animals without shuddering
in anguish. He looked into the eyes of the beasts and saw there a soul like
his own, a soul which could not speak: but the eyes cried for it:
"What have I done to you? Why do you hurt me?" He could not bear to see
the most ordinary sights that he had seen hundreds of times a calf crying
in a wicker pen, with its big, protruding eyes, with their bluish whites and
pink lids, and white lashes, its curly white tufts on its forehead, its purple
snout, its knock-kneed legs:a lamb being carried by a peasant with its
four legs tied together, hanging head down, trying to hold its head up,
moaning like a child, bleating and lolling its gray tongue:fowls huddled
together in a basket:the distant squeals of a pig being bled to death:a
fish being cleaned on the kitchen-table. . . . The nameless tortures which
men inflict on such innocent creatures made his heart ache. Grant animals
a ray of reason, imagine what a frightful nightmare the world is to them: a
dream of cold-blooded men, blind and deaf, cutting their throats, slitting
them open, gutting them, cutting them into pieces, cooking them alive,
sometimes laughing at them and their contortions as they writhe in agony.
Is there anything more atrocious among the cannibals of Africa? To a man
whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the
sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of men. For with the latter it is at
least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a
criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day
without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be
thought ridiculous.And that is the unpardonable crime. That alone is the
justification of all that men may suffer. It cries vengeance upon God. If there
exists a good God, then even the most humble of living things must be
saved. If God is good only to the strong, if there is no justice for the weak
and lowly, for the poor creatures who are offered up as a sacrifice to
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No Pardon For Me
I'm sentenced.
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-- "Mom, why have you done this to me? Am I not God's image you
promised to love and protect?"
Then i felt shaken once, twice, several times until I do not know anymore
what has been going around. I gushed forth my last breath...
Then came the final blow, my head - the abortionist termed as No. I was
totally cut from my torso: total annihilation.
GONE IS MY CHANCE TO LEAD A HEALTHY NORMAL LIFE.
GONE IS MY CHANCE TO BEHOLD THE MANY LOVELY THINGS GOD
CREATED FOR US.
GONE IS THE PROMISE OF A BLISSFUL LIFE.
I Killed Her
I killed her because I do love her. These hands, these hands that gave life
to many, killed her because of my love for her.
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Ladies and Gentlemen of this honorable court, please listen to me, listen to
my story before you give my verdict. I am Dr. Reyes, a cancer specialist. I
was born in a slum district of Batalon. My father oh! I don't know him for I
am a child of faith. My mother brought me up in such determination and my
ambition was to escape the filthy and horrible place of Batalon. I was
nourished with hope that someday I might live a life different from her. My
mother had a burning faith that she turned the nights into days. All her
efforts were not in vain for I pushed through with flying colors. My mother
who had given her whole life to me had tears in her eyes as she pinned the
gold medal on my proud chest.
Later on, I was sent as a scholar of the Philippines to the United States of
America. I embraced my mother tightly as I've reached the
plane.."Mother, mother,.." I whispered. You will always be my best mother
in the world.
After four years, I came back with laurels. I became a cancer specialist. I
gave my mother everything but I was too late. I who had used to ease the
pain of many, came too late for the life of my dying mother. I gave the best
treatment but the grasp of death was so tight around her. My God, what is
the use of ten years of study if I couldn't even use it at my mother's pain.
Then one night, I heard a strange cry. I run to her room. "Do you love me,
child?" she asked, as I embrace her. " Yes, mother.. If only I could get
all your pain and agonies"
" Then.. if you love me, end my sufferings, kill me Let me die."
"But, mother, I promise to give life and not to end it."
God. She did not deserve the unhappiness. She deserves to be happy.
I run to my room and came back with a syringe.
"Mother, forgive me. God, please understand me."
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"Mother, mother, you must not die.. Don't leave, I love you. It was only a
distilled water..Mother Mother. MOTHER"
Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, give me your verdict. Yes, it was only distilled
water which ended the sufferings of my mother.
Judge me.. Punish me
GO, punish me.. Thy will be done!!
Conscience
I wept, I cried so hard. But this tears cant bring back my sister to life. My
being brought here by my conscience. I want to ask forgiveness. But can
she still hear? O heart, forgive me for what I have done, please bring peace
to mind.
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killing my only sister, who loved and cared for me, even at the last moment
of her life.
Now can you blame me, for asking God to forgive me? Forgive me dear
God, Forgive me!
Am I to be Blamed?
Theyre chasing me, theyre chasing, no they must not catch me, I have
enough money now, yes enough for my starving mother and brothers.
Please let me go, let me go home before you imprisoned me. Very well,
officers? take me to your headquarters. Good morning captain! no captain,
you are mistaken, I was once a good girl, just like the rest of you here. Just
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like any of your daughters. But time was, when I was reared in slums. But
we lived honestly, we lived honestly in life. My, father, mother, brothers,
sisters and I. But then, poverty enters the portals of our home. My father
became jobless, my mother got ill. The small savings that my mother had
kept for our expenses were spent. All for our daily needs and her needed
medicine.
One night, my father went out, telling us that he would come back in a few
minutes with plenty of foods and money, but that was the last time I saw
him. He went with another woman. If only I could lay my hands on his neck
I would wring it without pain until he breaths no more. If you were in my
place, youll do it, wont you Captain? What? you wont still believe in me?.
Come and Ill show you a dilapidated shanty by a railroad.
Mother, mother Im home, mother? mother?!. There Captain, see my dead
mother. Captain? there are tears in your eyes? now pack this stolen money
and return it to the owner. What good would this do to my mother now?
shes already gone! Do you hear me? shes already gone. Am I to be
blamed for the things I have done?
indeed.
Suddenly, five loud knocks were heard on the door and a deep silence
ensued. Did the cruel Nippons discover our peaceful home? Mother ran to
Fathers side pleading. Please, Luis, hide in the cellar, there in the cellar
where they cannot find you, I pulled my fathers arm but he did not move. It
seemed as though his feet were glued to the floor.
The door went bang and before us five ugly beasts came barging in. Are
you Captain Luis Santos? roared the ugliest of them all. Yes, said my
father. You are under arrest, said one of the beasts. They pulled father
roughly away from us. Father was not given a chance to bid us goodbye.
We followed them mile after mile. We were hungry and thirsty. We saw
group of Japanese eating. Oh, how our mouths watered seeing the
delicious fruits they were eating,
Then suddenly, we heard a voice call, Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . .
Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . . Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . . we ran towards the
direction of the voice, but it was too late. We saw father hanging on a tree. .
. . dead. Oh, it was terrible. He had been badly beaten before he died. . . .
and I cried vengeance, vengeance, vengeance! Everything went black. The
next thing I knew I was nursing my poor invalid mother.
One day, we heard the church bell ringing ding-dong, ding-dong! It was a
sign for us to find a shelter in our hide-out, but I could not leave my invalid
mother, I tried to show her the way to the hide-out.
Suddenly, bombs started falling; airplanes were roaring overhead, canyons
were firing from everywhere. Boom, boom, boom, boom! Mother was hit.
Her legs were shattered into pieces. I took her gently in my arms and cried,
Ill have vengeance, vengeance! No, Oscar. Vengeance, its Gods, said
mother.
But I cried out vengeance. I was like a pent-up volcano. Vengeance is
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mine not the Lords. No, Oscar. Vengeance is not ours, its Gods these
were the words from my mother before she died.
Mother was dead and I was blind. Vengeance is not ours? To forgive is
divine but vengeance is sweeter. That was five years ago, five years. . . .
Alms, alms, alms. Spare me a piece of bread. Spare me your mercy. I am a
child so young, so thin, and so ragged. Vengeance is not ours, its Gods. . .
. Its. . . . Gods. . Its
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Oration
I Am a Filipino By Carlos P. Romulo
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I Have a Dream
came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had
been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous
daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we
must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the
manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred
years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a
vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still
languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in
his own land.
So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a
sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution
and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory
note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable
rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that
America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of
color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America
has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked
"insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is
bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great
vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check a check that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also
come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the
tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the
time to open the doors of opportunity to all of Gods children. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid
rock of brotherhood.
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It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and
to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer
of the Negros legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an
end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off
steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation
returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in
America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation
until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must
say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the
palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be
guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by
drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community
must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white
brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize
that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably
bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we
shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking
the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be
satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain
lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We
cannot be satisfied as long as the Negros basic mobility is from a smaller
ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in
Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing
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for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied
until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you
have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by
the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back
to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,
knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not
wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite
of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men
are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia
the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able
to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day
even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of
injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and
justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governors lips
are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will
be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be
able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as
sisters and brothers. I have a dream t oday. I have a dream that one day
every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
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together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone
of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will
be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one
day.
This will be the day when all of Gods children will be able to sing with a
new meaning, "My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride, from every
mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this
must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New
Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let
freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let
freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring
from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring
from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain
of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of
Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that
day when all of Gods children, black men and white men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in
the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!"
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Im proud of my dirty hands. Yes, they are dirty. And they are rough and
knobby and calloused. And Im proud of the dirt and the knobs and the
calluses. I didnt get them that way by playing bridge or drinking afternoon
tea out of dainty cups, or playing the well-advertised Good Samaritan at
charity balls.
I got them that way by working with them, and Im proud of the work and
the dirt. Why shouldnt I feel proud of the work they do these dirty hands
of mine?
My hands are the hands of plumbers, of truck drivers and street cleaners;
ofcarpenters; engineers, machinists and workers in steel.
They are not pretty hands, they are dirty and knobby and calloused. But
they are strong hands, hands that make so much that the world must have
or die.
Someday, I think, the world should go down on its knees and kiss all the
dirty hands of the working world, as in the days long past, armored knights
would kiss the hands of ladies fair. Im proud of my dirty hands. The world
has kissed such hands. The world will always kiss such hands. Men and
women put reverent lips to the hands of Him who held the hammer and the
saw and the plane. His werent pretty hands either when they chopped
trees, dragged rough lumber, and wielded carpenters tools. They were
workingmans hands strong, capable proud hands. And werent pretty
hands when the executioners got through them. They were torn right clean
through by ugly nails, and the blood was running from them, and the edges
of the wounds were raw and dirty and swollen; and the joints were crooked
and the fingers were horribly bent in a mute appeal for love.
They werent pretty hands then, but, Oh God, they were beautiful those
hands of the Savior. Im proud of those dirty hands, hands of my Savior,
hands of God.
And Im proud of my hands too, dirty hands, like the hands of my Savior,
the Hands of my God!
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implicated in the deed it is at this very moment that from a young mans
breast escapes a cry, wrung from his very heart a cry of pity and
anguish a cry of horror a cry of humanity. And this cry would punish!
And in the face of the appalling facts which I have narrated, you would say
to the guillotine, Thou art right! and to Pity, saintly Pity, Thou art wrong!
Gentlemen of the Jury, it cannot be! Gentlemen, I have finished.
I ACCUSE
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Whether you like it or not, you are sitting atop a time bomb. Worst, you are
taking lightly the inescapable reality that it exist all because you have
been lulled all these years into a belief that everything is fine, just fine,
thanks to a captive, intimidated and prostituted media.
So, on with that false sense of security, the serenity with which you have
accepted the things around you. Its such a lovely landscape, you say,
Join me, lets bask under the sun. before it explodes you dont say!
In the meantime, the timing device ticks on, ticking off the seconds from the
hour, until, with the final countdown to zero, it is too late to avoid the
explosion to elude the ugly truth, that we have been gullible idiots all
along, playing into the hands of sweet-talking demagogues with their ready
answers and empty promises.
But the signs could not have escaped you they are so starkly real to be
ignored, so intimately linked with everyday life, yours and mine
ours. You could not have failed to notice them, or while they bluntly
portray the present, they are just as inseparably a part of your future and
the future of your children.
Thus, before you, is a wide panoramic view of the suffering from want,
from neglect, from the indifference of those in whom the welfare of the
people has been entrusted. One wonders how you can be so blind.
While no relief is in sight nor had been attempted in all seriousness and
dedication, now here comes again Mr. X with tongue in cheek, unabashed,
and with all the theatrics at his command, beguiling the electorate once
more with his artifice, offering himself for another tenure of incompetence,
poor performance, and untrustworthiness in public office. God! What have
we done that we should be visited by such a blight!
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There really are people who simply do not know how much we endure
them!
Meanwhile, the time-bomb ticks on and unless defused on time, we shall all
be blown to smithereens!
Just what is ailing us today?
Mr. Xs entry into the picture is illustrative of the callousness, the daring,
and the atrocious impudence of phonies, so thick-faced they are insensitive
to the public condemnation of their crimes and misdeeds. These are the
kinds who prey on a credulous electorate, then, before the ink dries on their
oaths of office, the kind who immediately maps out measures to the feast of
public funds!
Let us beware of such candidate, such kind of public servant, in the same
way that one avoids a plague! Voting for him is simply calamitous for
beneath that benign and smiling face is a scheming mind bent on devious
ways to enrich himself in office. An octopus in human form has tentacles
reach deep into the farthest and tiniest crevices where the last centavo may
be heard to tingle, for there is nothing to satiate his avarice, there is nothing
to satisfy his inordinate greed. It is time too, to realize that the hoary arms
of this monster, fondling an armalite, cast a shadow over our lives, our
present and our future and those of our successors. It is time, therefore,
that this candidate who begs for our votes should stand an accounting for
his omissions, his dubious accomplishments or the manner by which he
conducted himself while in office or in committing his crimes.
Unhappily, the measure of a public official should be one at par with
Caesars wife above suspicion. I say, unhappily because Mr. X could
hardly measure up to pur barest expectations. In fact, if he has any
decency left in him, he should never have shown his face in public for the
shame and the ignominy he had placed on his name, and the ill-repute to
which his town had been made to bear, all because of a single scoundrel.
For once, let us vote for integrity in office, for performance and deportment
beyond reproach, for the honor of this town we all love.
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For once let us join hands to vote for Mr. Y, and thus let prosperity be with
us once more. And in one decisive stroke of rallying behind his leadership,
let the time-bomb of disaster be dismantled, with law and order, peace and
progress restored under a benevolent God, supreme once more over our
land and fortunes!
106
As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as
he was valiant, I honor him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him.
There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honor for his valor; and death
for his ambition.
Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak: for him have
I offended.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak: for him
have I offended.
Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak: for him
have I offended.
I pause for a reply.
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Tribute by Anthony
109
For every generation, there is a destiny. For some, history decides. For
this generation, the choice must be our own.
Our destiny in the midst of change will rest on the changed character of our
people and on their faith.
In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty.
In a land rich in harvest, children must not be hungry.
In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die untended.
In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to
read and write.
How incredible it is that in this fragile existence, we should hate and
destroy one another. There are possibilities enough for all who will
abandon mastery; others to pursue mastery over nature. There is world
enough for all to seek their happiness in their own way.
We have discovered that every child who learns, and every man who finds
work, and every sick body that is made whole like a candle added to an
altar brightens the hope of all the faithful.
So let us reject any among us, who seek to reopen old wounds, and
rekindle old hatreds. They stand in the way of a seeking nation.
Let us join reason to faith and action to experience, to transform our unity
of interest into a unity of purpose. To achieve change without hatred; not
without difference of opinion but without the deep and abiding divisions
which scar the union for generations.
Under the covenant of justice, liberty and union, we have become a nation.
And we have kept our freedom.
It is the excitement of becoming always becoming, trying, probing,
resting, and trying again but always gaining.
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Some people say that their heads are right on top of their stomachs and
when anything goes wrong with their stomachs they cannot sleep. An
equally serious condition is one in which words are always on the tips of
peoples tongue, so that reason never intervenes to stop their
utterances. This advice was once given to those whose speech is an
intemperate; Think before you speak; then talk to yourself, ruling of the
most difficult of all tasks. For that reason, the ancient Persians taught their
youths two things: to be secret, and to tell the truth.
Those who abuse speech are divided into three general classes: The first
are those who are always putting people in their place as if they were
ordained by God and the Constitution to tell off everybody for what they
call their own good. The second class is those who detract from the merit
of others by criticizing, finding fault or putting an evil interpretation on all
they say or do. They go to an art museum and criticize every picture for
not being hung properly, but they never see that the pictures in their own
homes are all upside down. A critical spirit is born of wrong
behavior. There is not a critical person in the world that is not in need of
criticism. Criticism of others is an escape from necessary selfcriticism. The third is made up of just plain liars. Conscious of their own
littleness and insignificance or by creating a mythical world, which is built
according to their own specifications.
Socrates said: Speak that I may see thee. Speech is the index of the
mind, and the summation of a soul, all that the person has been, is, and will
be. We can say: He is an ignorant man, He is a proud man, He is a
kind man, He is a cruel man.
The whirlwind on the tongue is the sign of the tempest in the soul. If there
is envy in the heart, it will show in the tone of the voice; if there is love in
the heart even the words share the glow. But a skunk in the cellar soon
smells up the whole house. It is a physical and a psychological impossibility
to develop the art of a good and humble heart out of which comes out
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A CHANGE WITHIN
Half a century of oppression, tyranny, and cruelty had passed.
Foreign battleships, artillery, and military left our land. Our flag raised in full
dignity and colours. An independent government formed and fortified by
laws. A nation formed by people with its own rights, language, and identity
to be proud of. The Philippines is free at last, or is it? Corruption, poverty,
dirty politics, and other national problems both minor and major are present
and imminent nowadays. Moral and character crisis is sweeping around the
country. We are in need for a change, a change that will not come from
others but with you. We have to eradicate the image of a common Filipino
which is still bound to the old culture of being idle and going through the
flow. We have to become a new Filipino bound with the new culture of
being disciplined, righteous, and persevering, a new Filipino which is
honest and loyal, and a new Filipino full of patriotism for his country. The
Filipino youth is the answer and the fulfillment of this dream. We will be the
future leaders and forth runners of this nation. The future of our country is
at our hands and it is on a hanging balance. If we fail to change, our
country will continue to deteriorate. But if we succeed, our country will
shine again with its full glory.
So why is it that Im persuading you to change? What is the true
dilemma of our society? The truth is corruption and other problems are just
contributors in the deterioration of our country. Our culture is the one to be
blamed of. Many countries such as the Koreas were once full of corrupt
political leaders, but where are they now? They rose as the 13th largest
economy in the world. The secret lies in their culture of being hard working.
We too have our own hard working people but what becomes imminent is
the culture of consumerism. We tend consume our gains faster than we
produce. We dont think for the future but just think of today. Many say that
immigrating and Filipinos abroad must go back and work for their country
instead. But what is the use of patriotism if their stomachs are empty. We
have to admit that our minimum wage is so low for a growing economy tied
up with growing population trend that eats up our economic gains and low
job availability or jobs mismatch. Filipinos also tends to give importance to
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white collar jobs and ignore blue collar jobs like welding, gardening, and
etc. which are the basic jobs in a society. We also didnt pursue agrarian
reform like what our Asian neighbours had done like Japan and Taiwan to
give importance and lift the current situation of our peasants and farmers.
We also lack in implementation. Our laws are nearly perfect but cannot be
implemented and enforced properly. These are the problems of our society
and do need an immediate change.
The effects of these problems tend to amplify because of the culture
of idleness. There was a time when I passed along the slums of Catarman
early morning and saw how the people there are just so idle, sitting,
gambling, and even drinking alcoholic drinks early morning. They are just
wasting time and energy doing nothing instead of searching for
opportunities. This culture is perpetuating and sometimes we even take
pride on it uttering the quote: Filipinos are lazy people. These problems
are also sometimes considered as the norm. Because everyone does it I
will do it, a common idea of Filipinos. We are also great show-offs. We are
always fond of extravagant clothes, bags, and shoes with expensive
product line. We are always saying that we love our country and we are
proud of it but do nothing to save it from its demise. These effects
conjugate together and form an impassable barrier towards a better future.
The enemy and the one to be blamed for are our own selves. And we have
the capacity and the decision to change and prosper. Reform in the
educational sector can be an answer to these problems. On a hundred kids
only five will proceed to college and 2 will have decent jobs. If we focused
on education we can and we will purge the root cause of these problems.
Social revolutions can also be done to induce reform. Not the bloody one
but a peaceful one. But I am not provoking a revolution to overthrow the
government but a revolution inside our selves. Educational reforms and
social revolutions will not succeed if we ourselves will not change our
attitude, values and perspective in life. The sole solution to these problems
is a change within, a change that will start at us, a change that will create
an unbreakable chain of changes among others, and a change that will
break that impassable barrier. We can become a new Filipino. And when
that day comes, I assure you the Philippines is free at last.
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Do answer
questions
as
succinctly
and
briefly
as
possible. Remember, there may
be only one person in the
audience interested in a specific
answer.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Speech
1.1 First Inaugural Address ( George Washington)
1.2 First Inaugural Address (Thomas Jefferson)
1.3 First Inaugural Address (James Madison)
1.4First Inaugural Address (James Monroe)
1.5 First Inaugural Address (Andrew Jackson)
1.6 Inaugural Address (General Emilio Aguinaldo)
1.7 Second Inaugural Address (Manuel L. Quezon)
1.8 Second Inaugural Address (Ferdinand E. Marcos)
1.9 Inaugural Address (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo)
1.10 Inaugural Address (Ramon Magsaysay)
Appendix 2: Essay
2.1 I Survived the Blizzard of 79
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Glossary
abiding- a feeling or a memory lasting a long time; enduring.
abundance- a very large quantity of something.
Adams- is a common surname of English, Scottish and Jewish origin,
meaning "son of Adam".
ambitious- having or showing a strong desire and determination to
succeed.
anxieties - a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an
imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.
Artillery- large-caliber guns used in warfare on land.
avarice - extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
Aver- state or assert to be the case.
blizzard- a severe snowstorm with high winds and low visibility.
Bondman- a serf; a slave.
Condemn- express complete disapproval of, typically in public; censure.
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References
https://www.scribd.com/doc/20267987/Oratorical-Piece
http://www.gov.ph/inaugural-addresses/
http://www.bartleby.com/124/
https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/essays
https://letterpile.com/books/Top-Declamation-Speeches
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Acknowledgement
We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our teacher
Josephine Cafirma who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project a compendium of speeches, which also helped us in doing a lot of
Research and we came to know about so many new things we are really
thankful to them.
Secondly we would also like to thank our parents and friends who helped
us a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
Dedication
As well as everything that we do, we would be honor to dedicate this Final
compendium to our parents and to teacher Josephine Cafirma . The two
persons that gave the tools and values necessary to be where we are
standing today.
Our parents and ma`am Josephine Cafirma who support us every step we
make, and decision that we take; but is necessary to understand that they
let us take our decisions alone in order for us to learn from our personal
mistake.
Foreword
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Table of Content
Acknowledgement and Dedication....i-ii
Foreword.iii
123
Speech
First Inaugural Address ( George Washington).. 1
First Inaugural Address (Thomas Jefferson) ...5
First Inaugural Address (James Madison) .10
First Inaugural Address (James Monroe) ..13
First Inaugural Address (Andrew Jackson) ...21
Inaugural Address (General Emilio Aguinaldo) 25
Second Inaugural Address (Manuel L. Quezon) ..27
Second Inaugural Address (Ferdinand E. Marcos) ..31
Inaugural Address (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) .35
Inaugural Address (Ramon Magsaysay) ...39
Essay
I Survived the Blizzard of 79 ...45
The Marrying Kind..49
The Pit and the Page.61
The Math of Marriage.63
In the Grip of the Sky.67
Declamation
Bad girl70
Juvenile Delinquent72
The Unpardonable Crime..74
No Pardon For Me..77
The Plea of an Aborted Fetus..79
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I Killed Her...81
Conscience..83
Am I to be Blamed? ..85
A Glass of Cold Water..86
Vengeance Is Not Ours, Its Gods..88
Oration
I Am a Filipino.....91
I Have a Dream...94
Dirty Hands..98
The Death Penalty100
I ACCUSE..102
The Defense of Brutus.105
Tribute by Anthony...106
Because Of What We Are, Of What We Believe.108
Hold Your Tongue110
A CHANGE WITHIN112
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