Word: Gravitas

 

gravitas

[ grav-i-tahs, ‐tas ]

noun

seriousness or sobriety, as of conduct or speech.

               The speaker stepped up to the podium. He was a tall man in his middle ages, and was showing signs of age. But he carried himself like a young man in his prime, as if he was the pinnacle of fitness and wellbeing. His stomach, of course, told a different story. He looked at the assembled audience and began speaking.

               “My friends,” he began. His voice was heavy. The kind of weight that came with a speech of utmost importance. He spoke like his words were the most important thing in the world. Like everything depended on them. “We have come to a grim time in our history. A time of strife and change. A time when all might end.”

               As he spoke, telling everyone how “difficult” and “trying” the coming months and years would be, a few of the more gullible people believed him, sucked in by the gravitas of his words. The rest of the audience knew he was spewing enough hot air to fill a hot-air balloon carrying an elephant.

               Most of them tuned out about two minutes into the speech, finding more interesting things on their phones, or in hushed conversation with the person next to them. The speaker either did not notice, or chose to ignore those who were not paying attention. He simply continued speaking of “the importance” of his plans, and how they would “save the world.”

               This was accompanied by a large number of eye rolls. Everybody knew the world was not actually going to end, no matter what the doomsayers and end-time prophets wanted people to believe. Sure, there was a lot of bad things going on, but not global catastrophe bad. A few riots and some conspiracy theories did not an apocalypse make.

But, this speaker seemed to thing they did. And, not only that, he said he would be able to fix these problems. He even managed to say it like he believed his own words. At least, he spoke with the severity such a thing warranted anyway. The problem was that other seemed to be believing him as well. The more levelheaded members of the audience were more worried about that than anything the man said. It was not one man who changed anything. It was the people who believed that one man.

Had the speaker actually had the interest of his fellow man at heart, those in attendance might not have been worried. But as he spoke, his actual intentions became clearer. He spoke of how much money it would take to enact his plans, and how it was the “solemn duty” of everyone in the audience to contribute to his cause, “for the sake of the future,” of course. He continued, saying, will all seriousness and urgency, that “the more people gave, the better the future would be.”

It was not nearly soon enough that the speech came to an end. The speaker, casting one last look over the audience, spoke his last words.

“I pray that all of you heed my warnings of the future, and have the foresight to do the right thing, and donate to my project. It is the only way that humanity as a whole will survive. Thank you, and good night.”

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As bad as things are right now, don't buy into all the people who say the world, or more likely, country, is going to end. A nation is not one person, no matter how important that person may be. And if you're going to donate money to someone or something, make sure it's actually a good cause, and not a scammer.