Motivation

Given by Otetani alias RED JACKET in 1805 -

Otetani, Chief of the Seneca tribe, who was born in 1758, became known as Red Jacket from the bright red coat given him by the British when he supported them during the American Revolution. As chief his title was Sagoyewatha. As the main spokesman for the Six Nations, he became a friend of George Washington. Red Jacket opposed attempts to bring European values to his tribe. This eloquent address at a council of chiefs of the Six Nations was made when Christian missionaries tried to baptize his followers.

It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day.

He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council.

He has taken His garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us.

Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken.

For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and Him only.

Brother, this council fire was kindled by you.

It was at your request that we came together at this time.

We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely.

This gives us great joy; for we now consider that we stand upright before you and can speak what we think.

All have heard your voice and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.

Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this place.

It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from home and we do not wish to detain you.

But first we will look back a little and tell you what our fathers have told us and what we have heard from the white people.

Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island.

Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun.

The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians.

He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food.

He had made the bear and the beaver.

Their skins served us for clothing.

He had scattered them over the country and taught us how to take them.

He had caused the earth to produce corn for bread.

All this He had done for His red children because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting-ground they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood.

But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies.

They told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men and had come here to enjoy their religion.

They asked for a small seat. We took pity of them, granted their request, and they sat down among us.

We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.

The white people, brother, had now found our country.

Tidings were carried back and more came among us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We believed them and gave them a larger seat.

At length their numbers had greatly increased.

They wanted more land; they wanted our country.

Our eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor among us. It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.

Brother, our seats were once larger and yours were small. You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets.

You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us.

Brother, continue to listen.

You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to His mind; and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach we shall be unhappy hereafter.

You say that you are right and we are lost. How do we know this is true? We understand that your religion is written in a Book. If it was intended for us, as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us, but why did He not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that Book, with the means of understanding when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?

Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but He has made a great difference between His white and His red children. He has given us different complexions and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for His children; we are satisfied.

Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.

Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will not tell you that I have been at your meetings and saw you collect money from the meeting. I can not tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that it was for your minister; and, if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.

Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present.

As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey and return you safe to your friends.

http://www.abundantworld.com/famous_speeches.htm

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Later Comes Much Too Late

I am sure a number of us have had issues with procrastination, I definitely have times without number.

Just yesterday, a friend I have not heard from for a long while now called me on phone, I picked the call but just as we were about exchanging greetings with all the shouts and hi5s, another very important call (VIC) came in from Europe.

I had no choice but to tell my friend to hang up and that I would call him later.

After taking the call from Europe, one thing led to another and I totally forgot that I had told my friend that I would call him later.

This morning, as I saw his call again coming through my phone, I rejected it and called him back to be able to fulfil my promise of yesterday; much as he appreciated that I called, but the enthusiasm was not as hot as yesterday.

This happens to most of us on daily basis and we are yet to come to terms with handling situations like this.

How many times have we postponed for tomorrow what we can do today only to find out that we still kept postponing it until it ran out of steam?

How many opportunities have we missed because we just could not bring ourselves to take the decision to do them when it mattered most?

How many genuine and well meaning friends have we missed just because we could not keep up with keeping in touch with them?

I can go on and on to remind us of the things we have missed out on because we said “later”

The cost of the opportunity we have missed is called opportunity cost and it is quite expensive in the present.

Most times “later” never happens but when it does happen, it might come a trifle too late.

Be well advised

If there’s something that you have to do, copy me, my mantra these days is DO IT NOW!!!!

DIN – Do It Now

You would be happier that you did.

It’s my pleasure

JTF

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Just One Day At A Time

WHY WORRY ABOUT THESE DAYS?...

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,
two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is YESTERDAY
with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.

YESTERDAY has passed forever
beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back YESTERDAY.

We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said.
YESTERDAY is gone forever.

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW
with all its possible adversities, burdens, its large promise and its poor performance;
TOMORROW is also beyond our immediate control.

TOMORROW'S sun will rise, either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in TOMORROW,
for it is yet to be born.

This leaves only one day, TODAY.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities
YESTERDAY and TOMORROW

that we break down.

It is not the experience of TODAY
that drives a person mad...
It is the remorse or bitterness of something
which happened YESTERDAY and the dread of what
TOMORROW may bring.

Let us, therefore,
Live but One Day at a Time.

Courtesy: Declan Ogar Genesis

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Famous Speeches

We are starting our famous speeches series on this site from today.

We shall be posting one famous speech every week for the next number of weeks.

Today's Famous Speech is that speech made by Martin Luther King Junior

The essence of this series of famous speeches is to motivate you into action

Here is the speech

MARTIN LUTHER KING SPEECH - I have a dream

210,000 gathered at the Washington Monument in August 1963 and marched to the Lincoln Memorial, where the high point of the day was this speech by Martin Luther King.

He had written it in longhand the night before and did not finish it until 4am.

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro Slaves who have been seared in the flames of withering injustice.

It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds'.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash in this check - a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of Justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.

This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy.

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.

This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.

Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will not be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice.

In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high place of dignity and discipline.

We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,

'When will you be satisfied?'

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.

Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream.

It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the State of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough place will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope.

This is the faith with which I return to the South.

With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning.

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

We let freedom ring, we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God almighty, we are free at last!'

Source: http://www.abundantworld.com/famous_speeches.htm

We are looking for famous speeches from Nigerians too - Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa and all the others.

If you come across any, kindly drop it for us in the comments section and we shall feature it here

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What Will You Do This Month?

1. Set goals