Tag: language

INAUGURATION: ON A WING AND A PRAYER, the first episode of the Animalogy Podcast, is all about the word inauguration and the ancient augurs (priests) whose role it was to interpret the will of the gods by reading the habits of birds. This is the root of the English word inauguration to refer to electing politicians into office with the hope that their time in office would prove to be auspicious—or inauspicious. 

I can only guess what the birds signs would look like today. 

For your listening pleasure, I’ve pulled out the excerpts of inauguration speeches from the INAUGURATION episode of Animalogy. Listen below. (Of course you can listen to the full episode here.)

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READ EXCERPTS OF THESE SPEECHES:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” ~President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” ~President John F. Kennedy

“On this occasion the oath I have taken before you and before God is not mine alone, but ours together. We are one nation and one people. Our fate as a nation and our future as a people rest not upon one citizen but upon all citizens…They came here—the exile and the stranger, brave but frightened—to find a place where a man could be his own man. They made a covenant with this land. Conceived in justice, written in liberty, bound in union, it was meant one day to inspire the hopes of all mankind. And it binds us still. If we keep its terms we shall flourish.” ~President Lyndon Johnson

“My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend; a loving parent; a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood, and town better than he found it.” ~George H. Bush

“The divide of race has been America’s constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different.” ~President Bill Clinton 

“We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth. And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace. To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” ~President Barack Obama