My esteemed fellow Athenians: I come before you today to ask you to reaffirm one of our deepest beliefs as a society. Our gracious city has long held the belief that freedom is one of our greatest gifts from the gods. It is a gift that we have guarded diligently and jealously in our glorious past, and it is the reason we are assembled here today. If we do not choose wisely today and in the near future, our freedom will be a gift that we brazenly throw away, disregarding the graciousness of the gods. We have fought fiercely for our freedom in the past, and now I stand before you today to fight for freedom once more, not with a sword, but with speech. Here in this honored Assembly, we have striven to ensure our own freedom, but more importantly, we now strive to ensure the freedom of our sons.
I implore you to recommit today to recognizing this august Assembly as the sole authority for our proud city. Rather than allowing a privileged few to determine our fate, I implore you, my fellow citizens, to acknowledge once and for all, that our city cannot survive if our laws are determined by the politically ambitious. Rather, I plead with you to look around you today, and recognize that the future of our city can only continue when we have but one goal as a people: to secure our city’s freedom. When solitary individuals attempt to determine what is best for our blessed city, their hubris clouds their ability to decide upon a course of action that will benefit our great city. Distracted by their thirst for personal power, they disregard their duty to the people and seek their own advancement. Here in this Assembly, we debate our possible actions and the roads we may choose to take. One man’s hubris cannot survive our scrutiny. The power of the Assembly is the power and the freedom of the people. Do you wish to strip us of our freedom and make us slaves like the Spartans? Should we pretend we do not possess minds and follow the orders of a select few, as do the Spartans? I tell you, my esteemed Athenians, we must discard such foolhardy notions and reaffirm the power of this wise Assembly, and by so doing, ensure that our gift from the gods is given to our future generations.
I must tell you, my fellow citizens, that I think of the day when my son will enter this Assembly and speak for this great city. He will know what his ancestors have done, the speeches they have given, the laws they have decreed, and he will enter this gracious assemblage with reverence for the graciousness of the gods in granting our fair city such glorious freedom. I think of that day, and I implore you to ensure that the freedom we have this day, will continue far beyond that day.
Let us not be swayed by men who pretend to be wiser and promise to protect our freedom. Instead let us protect our own freedom by making certain of it with our own eyes and our own words.
I implore you to recommit today to recognizing this august Assembly as the sole authority for our proud city. Rather than allowing a privileged few to determine our fate, I implore you, my fellow citizens, to acknowledge once and for all, that our city cannot survive if our laws are determined by the politically ambitious. Rather, I plead with you to look around you today, and recognize that the future of our city can only continue when we have but one goal as a people: to secure our city’s freedom. When solitary individuals attempt to determine what is best for our blessed city, their hubris clouds their ability to decide upon a course of action that will benefit our great city. Distracted by their thirst for personal power, they disregard their duty to the people and seek their own advancement. Here in this Assembly, we debate our possible actions and the roads we may choose to take. One man’s hubris cannot survive our scrutiny. The power of the Assembly is the power and the freedom of the people. Do you wish to strip us of our freedom and make us slaves like the Spartans? Should we pretend we do not possess minds and follow the orders of a select few, as do the Spartans? I tell you, my esteemed Athenians, we must discard such foolhardy notions and reaffirm the power of this wise Assembly, and by so doing, ensure that our gift from the gods is given to our future generations.
I must tell you, my fellow citizens, that I think of the day when my son will enter this Assembly and speak for this great city. He will know what his ancestors have done, the speeches they have given, the laws they have decreed, and he will enter this gracious assemblage with reverence for the graciousness of the gods in granting our fair city such glorious freedom. I think of that day, and I implore you to ensure that the freedom we have this day, will continue far beyond that day.
Let us not be swayed by men who pretend to be wiser and promise to protect our freedom. Instead let us protect our own freedom by making certain of it with our own eyes and our own words.
posted by Julianna | 11:26 AM
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