Every idea is an incitement… Eloquence may set fire to reason.<\/p>\n

–Oliver Wendell Holmes<\/p>\n

Gram Parsons<\/a>,\u00a0an extremely influential musical artist credited with helping to found\u00a0country rock<\/a>,\u00a0was an American singer, songwriter,\u00a0guitarist, and\u00a0pianist. He played with the Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Emmylou Harris. \u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em> ranks him 87th in a list of their top 100 artists<\/a> of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite this record of success, recreational drug use shortened his life: he died on September 19th, 1973 at the age of 26 (in Room #8 at the Joshua Tree Inn).<\/p>\n

When his friends stole his body from the LA airport, drove it to Joshua Tree National Park, poured five gallons of gasoline into his open coffin and lit it with a match, \u00a0they fulfilled his dying wish to be cremated in the desert. \u00a0The police gave chase but, according to one report, \u00a0were unable to keep up\u00a0because they were\u00a0\u201cencumbered by sobriety.”<\/p>\n

How might you be encumbered by sobriety as a speaker, outdone by more dynamic souls who speak with passion or humor, who light the room on fire or set the\u00a0table\u00a0on a roar?<\/p>\n

Do you struggle to\u00a0express\u00a0emotion? \u00a0Are you strong on the facts but weak on communicating values, vision<\/a>, and inspiration? \u00a0Is your voice less expressive than you\u2019d like? \u00a0Are you\u00a0laid low by an excess\u00a0of bullet points? \u00a0Do you find it hard to tell personal stories<\/a>? \u00a0Do you dismiss the need for eloquence, and take pride in being\u00a0reasonable?<\/p>\n

Reason is great, but eloquence is better. Eloquence is reason set on fire.<\/p>\n

[ctt tweet=”Reason is great, but eloquence is better. Eloquence is reason set on fire.” coverup=”xfdbT”]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every idea is an incitement… Eloquence may set fire to reason. –Oliver Wendell Holmes Gram Parsons,\u00a0an extremely influential musical artist credited with helping to found\u00a0country rock,\u00a0was an American singer, songwriter,\u00a0guitarist, and\u00a0pianist. He played with the Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Emmylou Harris. \u00a0Rolling Stone ranks him 87th in a list of their top 100… Read More »Eloquence is reason set on fire<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[960,144,24,149],"tags":[628,618,331,327,167],"yoast_head":"\n