○  名人演讲： a time to break silence  ○

w world. this is the calling of the sons of god, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. shall we say the odds are too great? shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? will our message be that the forces of american life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? or will there be another message -- of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? the choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.

as that noble bard of yesterday, james russell lowell, eloquently stated:

once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide,

in the strife of truth and falsehood, for the good or evil side;

some great cause, god's new messiah offering each the bloom or blight,

and the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

though the cause of evil prosper, yet 'tis truth alone is strong

though her portions be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong

yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown

standeth god within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

and if we will only make the right choice, we will be able to transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace.

if we will make the right choice, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

if we will but make the right choice, we will be able to speed up the day, all over america and all over the world, when justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a might

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