Words Matter

Words Matter

In the November 19, 2008 issue of The USA Today, political analyst Sandy Grady rightly praises President-elect Barack Obama for his eloquence ("His Words Will Matter").

Grady aptly notes about Obama's speeches, "They always have rhythm, repetition, alliteration, balance. They flow with a narrative, his story meshing into America's story" (p. 13A).

Anyone familiar with historic and current African American preaching (see my work Beyond the Suffering: Embracing African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction) knows that Obama's style reflects the best of a long tradition.

Amazingly, in this day of the tele-prompter and of the speech-writer, Obama writes his own speeches.

Some of his more powerful, poetic words include:

July 27, 2004, Democratic National Convention Speech: "There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."

January 8, 2008, Manchester, NH, after Hillary Clinton defeated him in the primary: "Yes we can!"

March 18, 2008, Philadelphia, answering the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy: "It is a story that has seared my genetic makeup, the idea that this nation is more than a sum of its parts, that out of many, we are truly one."

November 4, 2008, Grant Park, Chicago: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible . . . tonight is your answer."

Words matter.

Whether or not one agrees with President-elect Barack Obama on each and every issue, one has to respect his stirring use of words.

And we all can learn from him.

1. Write and speak with passion from the heart. Tell a story that means the world to you and it will mean the world to the world.

2. Write and speak your own story and style. Write with originality and freshness. Sure, research the works and words of others. But don't mimic. Find and use your own voice.

3. Write and speak "poetically" even if writing non-fiction prose. For example, in my theology of Christian counseling text book (Soul Physicians) I use the literary style of "theo-drama" to tell the awesome story of God's work in history. Theology should never be dry-as-dust! It is God's story!

4. Write and speak in narrative. Life is a story. We all live in story, in narrative. Craft a compelling depiction of the main characters, their setting, their aspirations, even in non-fiction. For instance, in Beyond the Suffering we did not simply tell historical facts. We placed African American Christians in their historical setting, drawing out and describing their personal passions and their life-changing interactions.

5. Write and speak with relevance. Whatever "truth" you have to tell, relate truth to life. In our book on the history of women's soul care (Sacred Friendships), my co-author and I did not simply write a history text. We paused at each step along the journey to ask the "So what?" question. "So what difference does the life of this godly woman make for us today?

Words matter.