The Four Dangers

One must free itself, before freeing others.

November 20, 2019

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." Yet this is the measure of the task of your generation and the road is strewn with many dangers.” — Niccolò Machiavelli

In April of 1965, a group of mountain climbers decided to scale a 14,000—foot mountain in Canada’s Kluane National Park and Reserve that was to be named Mount Kennedy after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. There were some experienced climbers in the group, and there was one man who never climbed anything before but stairs. That individual was the former United States Attorney General and President’s brother Robert F. Kennedy. Robert, the seventh child and third boy in a large Irish Catholic family from Boston, was never going to back down from any challenge, especially one as necessary to honor his late brother. Once reaching the peak of the mountain, Robert left momentoes from his brother, including the President’s inaugural address, along with his PT Boat tie clip.  

Today we celebrate what would have been Robert F. Kennedy’s 94th birthday. Thankfully RFK left us with powerful words to inspire us daily. In one of his greatest speeches of all time, the Day of Affirmation Address at the University of Capetown, in Capetown South Africa Kennedy on June 6, 1966, RFK gave his audience a compelling and inspiring history lesson to begin his speech:

Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Professor Robertson, Mr. Diamond, Mr. Daniel, Ladies and Gentlemen: I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which was once the importer of slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.

Robert F. Kennedy wanted to put the audience listening to his talk at ease by identifying his struggles to match what they face. Kennedy wanted them to understand they were not alone in attempting to change a world that seeks so painfully to transform and improve. RFK would go on to express eloquently, “This is a Day of Affirmation—a celebration of liberty. We stand here in the name of freedom.”

During Robert F. Kennedy’s historic gathering, he would provide the audience with four dangers that halt any powerful movement towards gaining freedom for all. And in reality, not working on these four each day, keep us from having our freedom. As someone once said, “One must free itself, before freeing others.”

THE FOUR DANGERS…    

  1. Futility—Believing that one person cannot change the course of history. Kennedy noted that the greats movements in the world flowed through the work of a single individual. He said, “A young monk began the Protestant Reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France.”

  2. Expedience—Kennedy urged everyone that “We must not fail; we must get things done. There is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities—no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems.”

  3. Timidity—We all must have the moral courage to continue, the bravery to fight, to handle the wrath of the society, and to stand alone against the norms. Kennedy expressed, “Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change.”

  4. Comfort—The final danger is perhaps the most important. We cannot ever become comfortable in our achievements, success, “The temptation to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education.”

Robert F. Kennedy shared these words fifty-three years ago. They were relevant then, and even more critical today. Happy Birthday, RFK!

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