Earlier today, I linked to a video of President Obama's moving eulogy for the Reverend Pinckney who was gunned-down in that Charleston church. On the wise advice of Steve Bacher, I have swapped out that link for this better one.
As I said, I think it's a great speech and the following is a very minor quibble, not with the speech but the spaces between its sentences. I once attended a funeral for a friend at a black church and was a bit surprised at a custom they have. Every time the person at the lectern says something you like or agree with, everyone is supposed to mutter "Yeah" or "Right" or "Amen." A woman seated near me kept saying "So true, so true." I don't get that. I think it makes it harder for the speaker to speak and harder for the listeners but, hey, who am I to quarrel with what I'm sure is a long-standing tradition?
The thing is that at one point during one of the eulogies for my friend, the person at the podium was talking about some of the obstacles that the deceased had overcome to achieve some success. The speaker said, "The first editor he showed his work told him to give it up and that he was absolutely lacking in talent!"
And the woman near me, who was half-asleep and agreeing by rote, said "So true, so true…"