Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

‘Me, we’: Every writer’s, every communicator’s, every leader’s two-word anthem

08.28.2019 by David Murray // Leave a Comment

The only Latin my writer dad ever spoke around the house translated to, "We are all the same."

My professional mentor Larry Ragan used to say that when any writer begins to differentiate his interests and feelings from those of his readers, "He's in more trouble than he knows."

Studs Terkel taught me that regular people are as wise as writers—and, with a little encouragement, as poetic, too.

Now, the closest thing I've ever had to a spiritual guide is Muhammad Ali. He didn't know Latin, and because he had dyslexia, he had a hard time reading English. 

But he understood communication as well as anyone—and more succinctly, as George Plimpton tells the story in the magnificent documentary, "When We Were Kings" (now, finally, available on demand). In 1975, Ali spoke to the graduating class at Harvard University:

He gave this wonderful speech … It was moving, it was funny at the same time, and there was a great roar of appreciation at the end of it. And then, someone shouted out, Give us a poem! Now the shortest poem in the English language, according to Bartlett’s Quotations, is called “On the Antiquity of Microbes.” And the poem is “Adam / Had ’em.” It’s pretty short. But Muhammad Ali’s poem was, “Me? / We!!” Two words. I wrote Bartlett’s Quotations and I said, Look here, that’s shorter than “Adam / Had ’em.” You wanna put it in? It stands for something more than the poem itself: Me, we.

When-we-were-kings-muhammed-ali-1108x0-c-default

Categories // Uncategorized

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Now Available

An Effort to Understand

Order Now

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE BLOG UPDATES

About

David Murray writes on communication issues.
Read More

 

Categories

  • Baby Boots
  • Communication Philosophy
  • Efforts to Understand
  • Happy Men, and Other Eccentrics
  • Human Politicians
  • Mister Boring
  • Murray Cycle Diaries
  • Old Boots
  • Rambling, At Home and Abroad
  • Sports Stories
  • The Quotable Murr
  • Typewriter Truths
  • Uncategorized
  • Weird Scenes Inside the Archives

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

  • Preorder An Effort to Understand
  • Sign Up for Blog Updates
  • About David Murray