Senator Bob Dole reciting The Dash poem
A while back, I was visiting my mother in Florida when I received an email thanking me for writing The Dash poem. I receive hundreds of emails with that subject, and I try to read them all. This one, in particular, caught my attention as it contained a link to a C-SPAN video recording of a recent National Press Club Meeting regarding the Treatment and Care of Wounded Veterans, a subject close to my heart.
The surprising thing about this video was that Former U.S. Senator, Senate Republican Leader and 1996 Presidential Nominee, Bob Dole was reading aloud my words! As the keynote speaker for the event, he had chosen my poem to illustrate and convey a notion that he and I share: debt and gratitude for our wounded veterans. Not only was he reading my poem with obvious emotion, he prefaced his recitation with the words,
“we owe these young men and women everything…”
Simultaneously proud, humbled and amazed, I literally shook my head in disbelief. As I listened to him begin the 7th stanza, specifically the lines: “And be less quick to anger … and show appreciation more … and love the people in our lives … like we’ve never loved before,” there was no mistaking the emotions my words brought forth in this man as his voice began to quiver and his eyes welled up.
I stared, almost bewildered, at my computer monitor. Had the words I’d written years ago actually brought this wounded combat veteran to the threshold of shedding tears? This man who had been struck by enemy shrapnel while trying to drag his wounded comrade into a shell hole? This man who had received two Bronze Stars for his “heroism under fire?” I would venture to wager that he’d shed no tears on the battlefield that day while he was spending days of his own “dash” defending his country…and yet here he was, unmistakably emotionally moved by my words and ideas. I recall the realization of how something intangible, such as words, when combined in a specific, unique pattern, can have the power to reach directly through to someone’s heart and spark such emotion. I remember thinking there was some sort of ironic, conflicting comparison between the lead pellets which pierced this man during wartime and my words which seemed to pierce him now.
As I learned more about Bob Dole, I wondered how long ago he’d read this poem I’d written more than twelve years prior, and if it had also inspired his many other humanitarian efforts. I like to think it had.
- Linda Ellis
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I have just returned from a friends funeral where “The Dash ”
was read to the congregation, it was wonderful, my friend would have been impressed.
WoW – my nephew posted the reading by Bob Dole on his FB & I’m glad I clicked on it – that’s the best poem I’ve heard in a long time & I really think about it a lot – Thanks!!
I read the Dash poem to my Sundyschool Class last year and My Preacher read it to the Congration. My you never tire of giving us the insporation we all need.Bless You.