Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Great Regulars: The life of Václav Havel, who died

Sunday at age 75, shows poetry can shape the destiny of nations and change the course of history.

Dazzled by dollar signs, we in the United States tend not to take the art of language seriously. But Havel (who was awarded the 1994 Liberty Medal) knew the potency of words to mold the future. For more than five decades--in the tradition of Mohandas Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon and Pope John Paul II--Havel used words to do just that.

from John Timpane: The Philadelphia Inquirer: Havel wielded power of poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

No comments :