This lesson studies Haile Selassie's "Ethiopia's 18th Anniversary Address", delivered in 1948. After this short context paragraph, the reading gives the speech itself so students can examine rhetoric, civic myth, and source critique in the speaker's own words.

November 02, 1948, Addis Ababa

When we consider the time which is necessary to fulfill the needs of an individual it will easily be understood that the needs of a vast country like Ethiopia can only be filled progressively and by stages.

For the life of the world is such that periods of constructive achievement are followed by periods of destruction: the period of construction brings peace and the period of destruction brings uncertainty. We have always kept in mind that the union of the spiritual strength of the people with the material power of the independent nation provides the firm basis for our people to overcome the hardships and difficulties of life facing them in this world. Ethiopia relies on Almighty God and natural justice...

Imagination, devotion, perseverance, together with divine grace, will assure your success.