M sent me this link to Vivekananda's 'Brothers and sisters of america..." speech on Youtube.
It is an impressive speech. A passionate call for secularism and world peace.
Vivekananda ends with "... I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."
One can't help but note that these words were uttered on the 11th of September, 1893. Unfortunate coincidence then, that the date stands for the quasi-triumph of fanaticism, and not its death.
