Giving thanks for words well-delivered

"... The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Americans were scared, but they got it.

In the midst of the Great Depression, struggling to feed their families, they kept hope alive with the help of FDR.

Words well-delivered can be a tonic for despairing souls, something to remember at Thanksgiving. As we have seen again recently, words can stir us to rise above economic calamity or reinvigorate our democracy.

And it's not simply about winning elections. In Maryland, we see that power now in the efforts of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conductor Marin Alsop, taking the grandeur of music to inner-city children.

In a different sphere, Cal Ripken showed the world how language can be simultaneously humble and eloquent.

Language can be full of cynicism as well. We've all had great fun mocking politicians. We turn our unforgiving gaze on empty, if not dishonest, promises. But we don't give up. We expect leaders who earn our trust and make us believe in ourselves.

Well-crafted, insightful rhetoric conveyed by a quirky, patrician voice or by a virtual newcomer with the soaring baritone of a passionate pastor.

Compare, if you dare, the presidential language of the last eight years with the speeches of President-elect Barack Obama. His opponents sought to neutralize the power of his words by suggesting there was little of substance to support them. The voters answered for the candidate, turning out by the tens of thousands to hear him.

On election night, he said, "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

"It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference."

He gave credit to an audience of involved voters determined to be a part of their democracy. Of course, long before Obamamania, Americans had been working for change, and not just political change.

In Maryland, Ms. Alsop has put her passion, her eloquence and $100,000 of her own money into a program called OrchKids at the Harriet Tubman Elementary School in West Baltimore. Kids will learn the math and poetry and joy of music with a team of musician-educators.