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Corey_Baker08

(2,157 posts)
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 02:10 PM Feb 2015

I Would Like Your Opinion On What You Feel Are Some Of John Kerry's Greatest Speeches Plz....

JK is my hero & at the age of 14, I was so inspired by not only his run for President, but by the speeches he gave....

So my challenge to you is let me know of a particular speech or speeches that inspired you...

Right Now I am financially at rock bottom, & it would help me mentally and emotionally to be reminded of some of John Kerry's speeches relating to the issue of poverty in America...

I am about to be homeless at the age of 25, my stepmother died unexpectedly recently, I was living in a rental with her, after funeral expenses & because I am currently unemployed, I am going to lose everything, so plz...help me find speeches that will uplift me because I am so far down and almost out...

Much Love,
Corey A Baker

34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I Would Like Your Opinion On What You Feel Are Some Of John Kerry's Greatest Speeches Plz.... (Original Post) Corey_Baker08 Feb 2015 OP
So sorry for your difficult circumstances, Corey. femmocrat Feb 2015 #1
I just linked to the same speech! salin Feb 2015 #3
Not from the campaign - but part a very courageous speech during the Vietnam War... salin Feb 2015 #2
I can't help with the speeches Lifelong Protester Feb 2015 #4
I will think on this and see if I can come up with anything but in the meantime btrflykng9 Feb 2015 #5
Oh Corey.... Im so sorry about your situation. .. mylye2222 Feb 2015 #6
Anyone remember the audio mash-up of "For What It's Worth"? MH1 Feb 2015 #7
I hope that things improve for you MH1 Feb 2015 #8
I'm so sorry for your loss and situation marym625 Feb 2015 #9
Kerry also inspired me gwheezie Feb 2015 #10
Wishing good things for you, Corey! closeupready Feb 2015 #11
I've always enjoyed this speech... KansDem Feb 2015 #12
Yes. And he also has a very accurate prononciation . mylye2222 Feb 2015 #14
those of us who have lived it angel823 Feb 2015 #13
Where are you living... YvonneCa Feb 2015 #15
Here's the recent WEF speech by... YvonneCa Feb 2015 #19
Corey... Sienna86 Feb 2015 #16
Corey, I remember when you joined! renate Feb 2015 #17
I am so sorry you are going through this. Terra Alta Feb 2015 #18
I just found out tonight I'm about to be homeless myself TorchTheWitch Feb 2015 #20
... what would happen if you just, sort of, didn't leave? renate Feb 2015 #21
it would have to go through formal eviction, but TorchTheWitch Feb 2015 #24
I Am Incredibly Grateful For The Out Pouring Of Support.... Corey_Baker08 Feb 2015 #22
You are warmly welcome Corey. mylye2222 Feb 2015 #23
I was in Indiana... YvonneCa Feb 2015 #25
Corey, I'm so sorry. MBS Feb 2015 #26
Update: I Would Like To Thank Everyone Who Replied, Your Kind Words & Personal Stories Have Been Enc Corey_Baker08 Feb 2015 #27
I'm glad you have a friend there... YvonneCa Feb 2015 #28
Hey Corey... YvonneCa Mar 2015 #29
what YvonneCa said. MBS Mar 2015 #30
I'm Hanging In There, Thanks For All The Support! Corey_Baker08 Mar 2015 #31
SO Glad... YvonneCa Mar 2015 #32
Nice analogy, YvonneCa. MBS Mar 2015 #33
:) YvonneCa Mar 2015 #34

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)
1. So sorry for your difficult circumstances, Corey.
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 02:19 PM
Feb 2015

I posted a link in GD for more exposure and in hopes that some big-hearted DUers will help out. Best wishes to you and hopes for a better tomorrow.

The only speech of Kerry's that I remember vividly is the one before Congress in 1971. "Who will be the last man to die for a mistake?" I knew he had great potential way back then.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2004/7/30/flashback_a_rare_broadcast_of_john

salin

(48,958 posts)
2. Not from the campaign - but part a very courageous speech during the Vietnam War...
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 02:20 PM
Feb 2015
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Manifestos/VVAW_Kerry_Senate.html

The rightwing deplores this speech. But many of the rest of us (even though I was too young at the time to be aware of it - but as I heard of it and read it later) believe it was an act that is a profile of courage - especially given the times.

btrflykng9

(287 posts)
5. I will think on this and see if I can come up with anything but in the meantime
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 02:57 PM
Feb 2015

my condolences on your loss. I don't know you but I will keep you in my thoughts as you navigate this difficult time.

 

mylye2222

(2,992 posts)
6. Oh Corey.... Im so sorry about your situation. ..
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 03:02 PM
Feb 2015

Wish I could help... You brought tears to my eyes because I suffered the same situation not so long ago....

Welll for the speeches... The 2004 concession speech... as well as the one he gave in Paris following Charlie Hebdo attack.

Where are u living Corey?

MH1

(18,059 posts)
7. Anyone remember the audio mash-up of "For What It's Worth"?
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 03:24 PM
Feb 2015

If anyone still has a live link to that, I hope they will post it for you.

That is about the most inspirational thing I have ever heard.

MH1

(18,059 posts)
8. I hope that things improve for you
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 03:26 PM
Feb 2015

and I am sorry for the unexpected loss of your stepmother.

I did google search on "John Kerry speeches" and it mostly has transcripts but some video.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=john%20kerry%20speeches

marym625

(17,997 posts)
9. I'm so sorry for your loss and situation
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 03:47 PM
Feb 2015

I am not far from it myself. I don't have an inspirational speech for you, but I wish you well.

gwheezie

(3,580 posts)
10. Kerry also inspired me
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 03:48 PM
Feb 2015

I remember his testimony because I'm an old fart.
Is there anything we can do to help you?

KansDem

(28,498 posts)
12. I've always enjoyed this speech...
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 05:06 PM
Feb 2015


Imagine: A US Secretary of State speaking French! What class! No doubt he is well-respected in France and all of Europe.

Best of luck to you!
 

mylye2222

(2,992 posts)
14. Yes. And he also has a very accurate prononciation .
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 05:19 PM
Feb 2015

I am French and Ill have also to had he doesnt even have the typical American accent.

angel823

(410 posts)
13. those of us who have lived it
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 05:13 PM
Feb 2015

Know what you are going through. Stay strong. Look for programs in your area that will help you with a place to live and finding a job. Don't let your lack of a job or poverty define you.

Take care,
Angel in TExasperated

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
19. Here's the recent WEF speech by...
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 10:40 PM
Feb 2015

...President Kerry. I posted it as a reminder of how your role model NEVER gives up...and neither should you. Stay strong. You will get through this, and be stronger for it. But I am so sorry for what you are going through.
Still trying to figure out where you are...Indiana? Reading your profile posts...

http://www.c-span.org/video/?323960-3/secretary-state-john-kerry-address-world-economic-forum

Sienna86

(2,151 posts)
16. Corey...
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 06:46 PM
Feb 2015

What can we do to help? If you don't mind, a city and state? Perhaps we can locate resources and maybe some money to help.

renate

(13,776 posts)
17. Corey, I remember when you joined!
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 08:07 PM
Feb 2015

You were SUCH an impressive 14-year-old. I have a terrible memory, so it really says something that I remember you from so long ago.

I am so sorry about all your problems. It sounds like the world is crashing down around you. Have you tried calling a crisis line? Not necessarily for emotional support (although I bet you could use some), but they might have access to practical information about agencies and organizations that might help. I've just started training to work on a crisis line and am learning how to find sources online for all kinds of problems that callers have. Unfortunately I'm not there right now or I could try to find stuff for you (I need to sign in with a password so I don't have access to the program from home).

The crisis line is 800-273-8255 and the suicide line is 800-784-2433. I wish I could absolutely promise they'll be able to find something for you, but they should at least be able to help you find a food pantry near you and stuff like that that might help.

Terra Alta

(5,158 posts)
18. I am so sorry you are going through this.
Wed Feb 4, 2015, 08:34 PM
Feb 2015

Hugs to you.

Hope things get better! Please don't give up. You have lots of people here on DU who care about you.

TorchTheWitch

(11,065 posts)
20. I just found out tonight I'm about to be homeless myself
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:25 AM
Feb 2015

So I know what terror and hopelessness you're feeling. You and I both know that what is needed is something concrete to keep a roof over your head and food to eat until you can get a job. I've been fighting the battle of trying desperately to find employment myself, so I know it's not something that's going to happen overnight though you desperately need it to in order to stave off the worst from happening. I'm 50 years old. Never in my life had I had such a problem getting any kind of employment until now when I need it the most. Unlike you I have a lifetime of experience in many areas, but still no one is interested. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to pass out a resume with nothing or little to offer.

Like you, I've been trying to distract myself with a book or the internet, etc. at those times of the day not looking for work or begging for help from people that have no concrete help to give anyway. But what we both really need is a plan to get out of the horrible situation we're in and anyone that can offer a place to stay or money to keep you having a roof over your head and food to eat, as well as those necessary things to find a job like a phone for prospective employers to contact you and internet for searching out jobs, sending out resumes, contact with prospective employers, etc.

A Kerry speech may make you feel better in the short term just as my reading a book or watching cute panda bear cubs on YouTube does for me, to keep from losing my marbles or just giving up on life. But like me what you really need is actual help.

I really wish I had some actual help to give you, but being in much the same situation myself now as you are I simply can't and pray that someone does. All I can offer is my sympathy and hope for us both.

Tomorrow I'm going to once again beg sympathy with my slumlord though it is likely entirely useless since she hasn't got a single sympathetic bone in her body (but that's another story) and see if I can get any government help to keep me off the streets while I try to find a job. All I can do is recommend that you do the same - see if you can get any government help or help from any friends or family while doing everything humanly possible to get some income and do what you can to not lose your marbles in the mean time.

I'm so sorry to hear of the death of your stepmother. I just can't imagine having to be in this situation and suffering such a loss at the same time not to mention having to be the one to deal with the funeral arrangements and all that to boot.

I don't know what you've done already to help yourself get out of this situation, so I'll just say see if you can beg some time from the landlord, throw yourself on the mercy of any friends or family that you have to keep a roof over your head and food on the table, see if there is any government help that you can get, and spend every waking moment trying to get a job.

Though every day at some point I struggle with the idea of giving up, I know I can't, and neither can you. As hard as we both know it is try as hard as you can to hang onto hope that somehow things won't get even worse and may get better though I know just how hard that is.



renate

(13,776 posts)
21. ... what would happen if you just, sort of, didn't leave?
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 04:36 AM
Feb 2015

I'm just curious. If your slumlord really is a slumlord, is there a tenants' union in your town that could help?

I'll repeat my advice from a few posts ago--crisis line people don't just have a sympathetic ear, they might have suggestions about resources. Or possibly not, depending on your area. But could it be worth a try?

It is SO AWFUL, what the rich and powerful, or maybe the merely conservative, have managed to do to government to chip away at the safety net. But there are also many good people out there who want to help. I had no idea until I started my training with the crisis line--there are resources out there. I wish you the very, very best of luck.

TorchTheWitch

(11,065 posts)
24. it would have to go through formal eviction, but
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 04:22 PM
Feb 2015

I went through that before with my last landlord 10 years ago which is how I ended up here. That landlord wasn't anything close to as bad as this one, but the code enforcement office condemned the apartment because of one issue which I didn't even know was an issue... he had the clothes dryer vent vented into the attic instead of to the outdoors.

With this landlord, there are major problems she hasn't fixed for almost 2 years. The cracked sewage pipe in the basement alone would have this place condemned. This is why I never called the code enforcement office to force her to make repairs... from past experience I knew they would condemn the property and I'd be forced to leave.

When this happened with the last landlord the court gave 30 days for me to get out. This was also in the middle of winter when there was practically nothing available. The code enforcement office argued for me to leave immediately claiming a fire hazard, but the judge thankfully ended up ruling that I could have 30 days as long as I didn't use the clothes dryer.

In my present situation, the code enforcement office has a good case of making me leave immediately just because of the sewage pipe. And when I went through this before I had a good job and a lot of savings, so the only issue was just packing up and finding another place to live. This time I have only a few hundred dollars to my name and no income since I still haven't been able to find a job. There's just no way anyone will rent so much as a room to me.

I have family, but they have their own financial problems, and none of them can even offer a couch for me to sleep on. At least none of them have offered. I'm not very close to my family.

So far I haven't been able to find anything on the county's website of anything that would be helpful to someone like me without being diabled, having young kids, pregnancy, drug or alcohol problems or being elderly. Nevertheless, once the phone is recharged I'll try them anyway.

From my own experience and what I've seen if a property is condemned as inhabitable (and it doesn't take much to do that) depending on what the problem is the tenant can be forced out immediately - at their own expense.

I'm just not in a position now to be able to leave even if I wanted to. And for years I've had every reason to want to get out of here and away from being under the thumb of this despicable slumlord. I shudder to think of what would happen if I just didn't leave. More than likely the sheriff would come and bodily throw me out.

They say that the law favors the tenant, but in my own experience it doesn't. And maybe that's because of property the landlord has allowed to become unihabitable, I don't know. In my other situation with my past landlord neither the court nor the code enforcement office cared a wit about me. They cared about the property and the landlord paying his fines and making repairs.

Even if I can convince the slumlord not to evict me, I'd still have to be able to pay her the full rent on the 15th or she will anyway. None of which even makes any sense since she said herself that she'd never be able to get another tenant until maybe April, so she wouldn't be getting rent from anyone until then. She keeps claiming that she has to have the rent to pay her mortgage, but how does she pay her mortgage without anyone's rent through April? See, this is the kind of person she is.

Right now I don't even know if I can trust that if I was able to pay the rent somehow by the 15th if she still wouldn't evict me anyway. Nothing she says or does makes any sense.

Corey_Baker08

(2,157 posts)
22. I Am Incredibly Grateful For The Out Pouring Of Support....
Thu Feb 5, 2015, 12:43 PM
Feb 2015

I live in Richmond, Indiana BTW & Thank You All...

MBS

(9,688 posts)
26. Corey, I'm so sorry.
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 09:00 AM
Feb 2015

I don't have links to all his speeches handy (I've got some big deadlines to deal with right now and I can't spend a lot of time on other projects at the moment), but here are a few:
his commencement addresses to Yale and Boston College, in 2014, which have jokes, and comments of general inspiration, and are addressed to people about your age:
YALE class day, 2014


BOSTON COLLEGE commencement:
-video
(FYI, "Challenger" is BC's real-life eagle mascot, who was released and apparently just flew away when released during the ceremony)
-written transcript http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/05/226291.htm

The BC talk was especially personal and deep. I think you'll really like it.

Of all the things I value Kerry for, the attributes of his character that inspire me the most are these: his integrity, and his unwavering persistence in pursuit of things that matter . . . Nothing stops him from keeping up the good fight, for the environment, for peace, for our democracy.
Given the abysmal treatment he's always received from media cynics (who seem actually to FAULT him for having the guts to take on difficult tasks like Middle East peace and climate change, and more), Republican liars such as SBVTers, and even Democratic party operatives (don't get me started about how badly the Dem establishment has treated him , especially in 2004), I'm awestruck that he just keeps at it, day after day.
Sure, unlike you and me, he doesn't have financial worries. But that's the thing: if he were a weaker or lazier or more selfish or less committed person, he could have just quit the public arena long ago, to live a comfortable life.But instead, he continues to give 100%, to make the world a better place.
And here's the thing: he IS making a difference, against very steep odds.
As I deal with my own little problems, I draw inspiration from his persistence and idealism and integrity. If he can keep at it, year after year, so can I.
Hope these speeches help a little.

In the meantime, I do hope fervently that you can get some real-live practical help from your family and friends and neighbors, NOW.
You deserve it!
Now please keep us posted on how you're doing, OK?

Corey_Baker08

(2,157 posts)
27. Update: I Would Like To Thank Everyone Who Replied, Your Kind Words & Personal Stories Have Been Enc
Mon Feb 9, 2015, 02:51 PM
Feb 2015

Also I am temporarily now staying with a friend, the eviction process has been completed by the landlord....

It is times like this that humbles me & reminds me why I joined DU at the age of 14 back in 2004... DU has always been more than just a discussion board, to me I have literally grown up here, I have shared here & more importantly I have learned so much & have met some really great mentors here.

You have taught me from an early age, & you tested me throughout my teens & into the coming of age. I am without a shadow of doubt a better & more knowledgeable person & Democrat because of the many wonderful & selfless individuals on this site.

My life has not been the easiest, I didn't grow up with much money or come from a privileged family. However my life has been shaped by many challenges & tough times, yet as I have grown up here I have confirmed what I always suspected & that is that no matter how bad my life may be, I don't have to go far to find someone who is facing adversities that I can scarcely imagine.

DU has been my home & the source of an incredible education not only in my personal life, but I have learned how to be the best Democrat that is informed & educated on the policies & principles that we, DU & the Democratic Party stand for, fight for & always continue to cherish & challenge those that try to tear us down & exaggerate our positions.

So Thank- You DU for the ongoing support that you continue to humble me with day after day, & very literally year after endless year, this place is truly one of a kind because of you the DU community!

Corey Baker

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
28. I'm glad you have a friend there...
Mon Feb 9, 2015, 06:17 PM
Feb 2015

...to help you. A couple of thoughts...

1. While I agree DU is great and there are many wonderful, kind people here, remember you are one of them. Don't sell yourself short.

2. Many young people your age volunteer for military service to cope with circumstances like yours. If that's an option for you, try the Navy...like my dad and your hero John Kerry. It's safer and can help with education and job options later.

3. California is nice...

Good Luck, Corey!

YvonneCa

(10,117 posts)
32. SO Glad...
Mon Mar 2, 2015, 02:53 PM
Mar 2015

...to hear that. Someone told me once that big life transitions often are like being in a dark hallway...one just has to keep moving until they reach the other side. That has been my experience, too.
Know you have people here who care...

MBS

(9,688 posts)
33. Nice analogy, YvonneCa.
Mon Mar 2, 2015, 03:54 PM
Mar 2015

just keep moving until you reach the other end of that hallway..
useful to me, too!

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