Effective Communication Skills – 5

अविस्तरम्असंदिग्धम्अविलम्बितम्अव्यथम् |
उरःस्थम्कण्ठगम्वाक्यम्वर्ततेमध्यमेस्वरम् ||
— Valmiki Ramayan 4.-3-31

Listening, Short and precise, Clear, Not delayed, Harmonious, Speech raising from the chest and coming from the throat and conveying in comfortable middle pitch are the first seven attributes of effective communication skill, elaborated by Lord Ram as the characteristics of Hanuman’s speech.

Skill 5 – अव्यथम् – Not dissonant, Firm

Vyatham means dissonant, harsh and painful. Avyatham means not painful ie harmonious. Being harmonious means multiple things including firm, musical, not harsh, etc. Your communication should be firm but at the same time pleasant. Communication should not be sarcastic and should not hurt anyone.

#IHaveADream

We learnt from ‘The Speech that saved Nike’ in the last episode. That was one of the best in corporate history but the speech for this episode is the greatest in the history of social revolution.

‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the greatest speeches in American history. Delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington D.C. in 1963, the speech is a powerful rallying cry for racial equality and for a fairer and equal world in which African Americans will be as free as white Americans.

The occasion for King’s speech was part of #MarchOnWashington, which gathered around 210,000 African Americans at the Washington Monument in August 1963, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial. They were marching as part of the centenary of #EmancipationProclamation seeking to end segregation of white and black americans so that black Americans can be treated the same as white Americans

1963 was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation, in which then US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) had freed the African slaves in the United States in 1863.

‘I Have a Dream’: summary

‘I Have a Dream’ speech is very inspirational but pretty long one and hence I cannot cover the text of the speech here. But the full text of the speech is available in Internet for anyone interested to refer to. I am giving here highlights of that famous speech.

King begins his speech by reminding his audience that it’s a century since Emancipation Proclamation. King points out that blacks are still not free because of racial segregation and discrimination.

America is a wealthy country, and yet many Black Americans live in poverty. It is as if the Black Americans are in exile in their own land. He starts as a revolutionary but reiterates his commitment to the constitution and the development of USA.

King praises the ‘magnificent words’ of the US constitution and the #DeclarationOfIndependence. King compares these documents to a promissory note, because they contain the promise that all men, including Black men, will be guaranteed what the Declaration of Independence calls ‘inalienable rights’: namely, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

King urges America to rise out of the ‘valley’ of segregation to the ‘sunlit path of racial justice’. He uses the word ‘brotherhood’ to refer to all Americans, since all men and women are God’s children. He also repeatedly emphasises the urgency of the moment. This is not some brief moment of anger but a necessary new start for America. However, King cautions his audience not to give way to bitterness and hatred, but to fight for justice in the right manner, with dignity and discipline.

He makes it very clear that his objective is not to sow hatred and anarchy. Physical violence and militancy are to be avoided. King recognises that many white Americans who are also poor and marginalised feel a kinship with the Civil Rights movement, so all Americans should join together in the cause.

Martin Luther King then comes to the most famous part of his speech, in which he uses the phrase ‘I have a dream’ to begin successive sentences (a rhetorical device known as #anaphora). King outlines the form that his dream, or ambition or wish for a better America, takes.

His dream, he tells his audience, is ‘deeply rooted’ in the American Dream: that notion that anybody, regardless of their background, can become prosperous and successful in the United States.

In his dream of a better future, King sees the descendants of former Black slaves and the descendants of former slave owners united, sitting and eating together. He has a dream that one day his children will live in a country where they are judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

Even in Mississippi and Alabama, states which are riven by racial injustice and hatred, people of all races will live together in harmony. King then broadens his dream out into ‘our hope’: a collective aspiration and endeavour.

King uses anaphora again, repeating the phrase ‘let freedom ring’ several times in succession to suggest how jubilant America will be on the day that such freedoms are ensured. And when this happens, Americans will be able to join together and be closer to the day when they can sing: ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.’

What a powerful communication!! Unambiguous, Timely, Firm but harmonious. He repeatedly emphasises on the need to fight for social justice but clearly mentions not at the cost of hatred and violence. He reportedly stayed up until 4am the night before he was due to give his ‘I Have a Dream’, writing it out in longhand. Such is his commitment.