We never know who’s listening to speeches, how they may benefit from our spoken word, what they will find meaningful and how impactful those words may be.
A few years ago while I was narrating highlights of Boston and driving a tour trolley, a tour ended and guests filed off — but for one man.
This gentleman is standing immobile just beside the driver seat and looking down while stabilizing himself with one hand on the rail and the other palm on his forehead. Lifting his head to look at me, the 50-ish year-old gentleman tells me in an English accent that visiting Boston is a lifelong dream that he’s finally fulfilling. And when sitting on my tour after crossing the pond, he said he just learned the answer to a question that dogged him for decades.
On hundreds if not thousands of occasions, I had gone through the story that moved him as one of a multitude of additional historical, cultural and political tales, quips and yarns. Much of this responsibility is a function of muscle memory, recitation and rote.
But the experience with this guest and his reaction was most memorable. Never previously had I seen anyone frozen before me.
He tells me that as a native of the English Boston, he always wanted to know the origin of the name of his hometown from where the Puritans left in the early 1630s, then settling in today’s Eastern Massachusetts. And the 45-second anecdote that had required some digging and crafting answered one of his life mysteries.
Such is the case with the spoken word. The use of language can inform, inspire and motivate listeners and readers while providing for an increased understanding with detailed, descriptive language.