People who fear public speaking might use a variety of rhetorical tricks, showman's flourishes, and even theatrical lures to distinguish themselves and augment the speech that they fear giving. And then there are the rarer people who are amazing, engaging public speakers who just happen to also possess the dramatic contextual draw that all orators crave. One such incredibly dynamic speaker who is also an author with a book that I genuinely enjoyed reading, despite the heavy subject matter, is a man by the name of Kenneth Cain. About a year ago, he was the guest speaker at one of my graduate school classes. He entered the room and announced that he thought that the human rights field was so valuable that he was here to talk to us (a bunch of hopeful, soon-to-be human rights workers, lawyers, and policy makers) while his wife was in labor. Yes. In labor. He spoke enthusiastically and emphatically about his human rights work and the frightening flaws in the United Nations, NGOs, and other agencies of human rights agencies all while glancing nervously at his cell phone waiting for the last possible moment when he would need to jump in a cab and meet his wife in time to execute his role as lamaze coach, supporter, and husband.
You would think that I would have read his book immediately afterwards, but laden with coursework, a full time job, and momentary glimpses at having a life, it was only when I was in Vietnam last summer, walking by an old American man arm and arm with an (extremely) young Vietnamese girl, thinking about the tragedy of the sex trafficking industry, that I happened to see a photocopied edition of his book. I read it with a sense of urgency that, while not comparable to labor, was still resolute and passionate. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures is poignant, moving, and necessary...and not just for those interested in human rights, but rather, for those who are interested in humanity.
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