Ode to the Spoken Word

This is a hard subject for me. I have a lot of experience with public speaking and feel very passionately about teaching kids the art of it. But at the same time I enjoy online classes where I have to prove myself through the written word. When I looked at the assignment this week it made me appreciate that I had training in the public speaking realm of the world. In listening to them I felt inspired to do something that changed something for the better. I wanted to step out and conquer those that were doing wrong. And after my revelations I thought about if I would have felt the same way if I had read those same life changing words. The answer was no. There was something missing. When I read the words "I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of your deep attachment to your fatherland, as one who shares your aspirations for liberty and justice for all. And I have watched and the American people have watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist revolution was betrayed--and how your fatherland fell under foreign domination." (JFK, 1962) Hearing those words struck a cord in my heart, it made me believe and feel for those people. When I read them I still felt bad but it wasn't to the extent that I felt when I heard it. When you hear someone speak you feel their emotions in their voice, you can feel the compassion or anger. That is the difference between the written and spoken word. The ability to feel the emotion.