three good speeches

3 of my favorite speeches/letters. warning - none is short

martin luther king's letter from birmingham jail. read it first in a favorite college class, intensive writing - a powerful message with great clarity. then heard it again recently reading king's autobiography. i was also pleased to learn that bill george, a new personal hero, uses the letter in his leadership classes at hbs.

bill gates' 2007 harvard commencement remarks on solving the world's biggest problems, "whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity – reducing inequity is the highest human achievement." reading about his preparation for the speech made it all the more impressive to me.

hank paulson's restoring investor confidence, now secretary of treasury, but CEO of goldman at the time, "I [believe] passionately in the strength of our free market system -- a system that generates growth, creates jobs, rewards initiative and fosters innovation like no other in history...this [is] an opportunity to...rebuild the trust that is so fundamental to our markets and their vitality."

do you have a favorite speech?

jacob and aaron

great picture of jacob with cousin aaron at grandma's house (thanks Jer for the pic). we had to keep watching b/c he kept wanting to get too close!