There’s an aspect I can bring to this topic that I don’t think many others on this forum can–I was there when Ben Kessler gave his speech. It was the occasion of my nephew’s graduation.
Throughout his speech I had no problem at all with the truths he was trying to convey, but I did have a problem with his approach. He started off by chiding his fellow graduates for a food fight some of them had engaged in a couple of months before. And his tone didn’t improve after that.
His comments were delivered with all the zeal of the self-righteously convinced, although I thought him merely inexperienced in the, apparently, lost art of persuasion. I thought he lost an opportunity to help his fellow graduates and underclassmen see why the Church teaches what it does and why it is important for them to listen to those reasons.
The manner in which he delivered his talk was insensitive. And that is what he apologized for, and rightly so, from one who heard his speech live from beginning to end. It’s just too bad that those who really needed to hear his message were given such a poor presentation. That’s how it left me feeling. Not to excuse the rude, nasty reaction from many there, but I’m afraid all he accomplished was to harden hearts and positions instead of open them up to God’s truth. It was truly sad all the way around.
