On the Love of Eloquence

         Henry David Thoreau writes, “We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire”.  For those who do not know, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, eloquence is “the quality of forceful or persuasive expressiveness”. Thoreau believed that people did not fully absorb the meaning behind what was written or spoken to inspire them and simply took no action towards their standing beliefs.

          However, I cannot deem this philosophy to be true when in consideration of the protests occurring around events such as Black Lives Matter. Although we may love eloquence because it sounds nice, we also see it as the call to action or attention it can be.  Contrary to Thoreau’s belief, eloquence is used in many speeches towards inspiring action for Black Lives Matter and brings it into the light causing action to occur. Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke of how black’s “pervasive” and “persistent” distrust is not based upon “myths”. Government officials speaking out on the topic has created heroism among citizens and riled the people to protest and fight for what they believe is right. They are not merely sitting around and waiting for someone to prove that we, the people of the United States, are all equal. Protests have broken out in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix, New York City, San Francisco, and many more. How could it be denied that words create change? They are used as the matches to a person's passion and are the cause of our actions.