Today, I’m thankful that less is often more.
It seems like these days everyone is enamored with the concept of TED Talks.
Why not?
Back in 1984, Richard Saul Wurman had the brilliant notion to create a conference where passionate individuals who believed in something would come together to share their ideas in an open forum. Initially, these talks were limited to the intersection of 3 burgeoning fields – technology, entertainment, and design – hence, the name TED. The conference, held in the Monterrey Conference Center (not too far from Silicon Valley), was designed almost in a theatrical manner whereby animated speakers would have a casual, but energetic, exchange with their live audience. Limited to just 18 minutes, each TED talk was intended to share a simple revolutionary idea. So, at that first meeting, an eclectic array of enthusiastic orators gave their first TED talks, which included demonstrations of the Sony compact disc, the Apple McIntosh computer, and the Lucasfilm e-book. Despite all the hoopla, the event was a financial failure.
However, the organizers did not give up on their brainchild. They tried again with a second TED conference in 1990 – this time with more commercial success. Today, TED conferences - now well equipped with scintillating content, high-tech support, and live streaming capabilities - cover themes more far-reaching than the original trio of ideas. Pretty much every multidisciplinary topic you can conceive, ranging from quantum physics to pop culture, is fair game for a TED talk. And, the world has responded with its eager approval, especially since much of the TED viewing content is available free online. In fact, by this day (Nov 19) in 2012, it was estimated that the one-billionth viewer had witnessed a TED talk online. A simple idea of sharing ideas in a fun, dynamic fashion has rapidly blossomed into a worldwide phenomenon.
However, I would argue that TED talks, despite all the glitz and glamour, could never replace some of the greatest speeches of all times – wherein simple ideas were delivered without all the captivating, high-tech visual and sound displays. I’m referring to a low-tech address like Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, in which he passionately delivered his hope for unity at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall in the summer of 1963. I’m referring to low-tech address like Daniel Webster’s ‘Second Reply to Hayne Congressional Speech’, in which the great American statesman reminded his contemporaries that the Constitution was made for the people, made by the people, and was answerable only to the people. And, of course, I’m referring to a low-tech address like Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speech, delivered on this day (Nov 19) in 1863 on the battlefield of Gettysburg, more than four months after a bloody 3-day ordeal between Union and Confederate soldiers had transpired.
The story behind the greatest oration in American history is one fitting of some additional reflection. When President Lincoln was invited to join the ceremony commemorating the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in that small farm town in southern Pennsylvania, he was asked, as the nation’s Chief Executive, to provide a ‘few appropriate remarks’ that might ‘set these grounds to their sacred use.’ In fact, Lincoln was not even the headline speaker for the consecration. Rather, the honorable Edward Everett, a respected US Senator and Governor of Massachusetts, highlighted the event with a sleep-inducing speech of more than 13,600 words.
The day before the event, Lincoln was not feeling well. Nevertheless, he decided to press on to his pre-agreed engagement. On the train trip from Washington to Gettysburg, he took off his top hat, placed it on his knee, and began to write atop the hat with pen and paper provided by his personal secretary, John Hay. For the next 90 minutes, despite feeling feverish and fatigued, he would pen a speech of just 271 words with one simple idea in mind – the men on that battlefield should not have died in vain defending a notion conceived by our nation’s forefathers that all men were created equal. As he would go on to explain, that neither the President – nor any other man – could dedicate, consecrate, or hallow the grounds. Only those who gave their lives on that battlefield could do so. However, those still living must continue the good fight to ensure that the idea set forth by those who authored the US Constitution would never perish from this Earth.
Lincoln was slated to speak after Everett’s long address. By the time Everett concluded and took his seat, more than 2 hours had elapsed. Finally, at that moment, Lincoln rose, walked to the podium, took his hat off, pulled out the piece of paper he had stashed in its brim, and began to speak (barely referencing the paper in front of him). He would commence his short address with that famous sentence every American child learns in school: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Lincoln would then continue with his remaining 9 sentences. In fact, by the time he finished, his speech was only two minutes long – a far cry from the 120+ minutes consumed by Everett. He would end with words he brazenly pirated from Daniel Webster: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” When those last few words echoed from his lips, the audience sat awkwardly breathless in complete silence for nearly an entire minute until Lincoln had returned to his seat. Finally, Everett rose to his feet again and loudly proclaimed these prescient words: “We have just listened to a speech that will live through the ages.”
Later that night, on the train ride back to Washington, Lincoln would complain of fever, malaise, and headache – these were the prodromic symptoms of what would become a viral infection that would sideline the President for the next few weeks. In due time, the world would come to appreciate that Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address while suffering from a case of smallpox.
Sadly, there are no audio recordings of Lincoln’s speech, let alone video streams on YouTube or the TED website. Rather, what remains are the simple 271 words that remind us why the war was waged and eventually won.
Sometimes less is truly more.
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