Words To Speak & Be Remembered

The National Constitution Center has joined with Smith magazine to solicit a few good words -- Six Words to Inspire a Nation.

As the Inquirer reports, In a nutshell, advice for Obama:

Six little words can speak volumes.

Nothing to fear but fear itself.

Franklin Roosevelt said that.

To bind up the nation's wounds.

That was Lincoln, at his second inaugural, with the end of the Civil War in sight.

Pay any price, bear any burden.

Kennedy.

Of course, like his predecessors, Barack Obama will employ hundreds if not thousands of words when he addresses the nation upon being sworn in as president on Jan. 20. But between now and Jan. 5, the National Constitution Center and SMITH online magazine are asking Americans to offer the next president an idea, a turn of phrase, a slogan, some guidance - and to do it in a half-dozen words.

"A little haiku of citizenship," said NCC president and CEO Joseph Torsella. "We've been surprised by the things we've done from time to time that touch a nerve - this has been one of them."

Six words is not very long. Only as long as this sentence.

But so far more than 1,800 people have logged onto www.constitutioncenter.org and posted their reflections to "Address America: Six Words to Inspire a Nation." The best entries will be delivered to Obama's speechwriters.

As noted by the caption & as I've said before, I love the 6 word story & have penned a few words on my life several times, see The Mini Memoir.

This time, my contribution to the six-word aphorism to inspire the next president:

On the precipice. Change required.