Sunday, January 8, 2023

“Older”

I liked this detail from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s address to the House yesterday, as he moved through a catalogue of American lives: “We are young. We are older.” “Older” — not “old.”

You can watch at C-SPAN. The catalogue of lives begins at 9:14. And an alphabetical catalogue of Democratic values begins at 13:23. It’s quite something.

A related post
“Older person”

comments: 4

Daughter Number Three said...

I understand Jeffries did that speech (at about 1:00 a.m.) without a script or teleprompter. I think he had some notes, or at least he seemed to glance down a couple times. I was watching it live. Note: he didn't mention it in his brief origin story, but his undergrad degree is from SUNY-Binghamton, now called Binghamton University.

I confess I turned the television off just after McCarthy started his speech, so I missed hearing when he claimed he would stop "woke" education.

Michael Leddy said...

Maybe I’m too hopeful, but I’m reminded of hearing Barack Obama speak when he was running for Senate in 2004. I think Hakeem Jeffries will be taking the Democratic Party and the country to a good future.

Fresca said...

"Older", yes--I'm in.
I think of the A. A. Milne poetry books When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six.
Next up: Then We Grew Older.

Michael Leddy said...

I like the touch of melancholy humor in “then we grew older.”