I thought of sharing my second speech at Toasmasters. Hope you like it....Here it goes....
OPENING
Wife: Darling today is our anniversary, what should we do?
Husband: Sure darling, let us stand in silence for 2 minutes.
Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters, distinguished guests…..Good evening….
BODY
That may perhaps sound like a joke but in sad reality it reflects the state of the institution of marriage today. Divorce statistics from around the world reveal that divorce is on the rise. And, India is no exception. A few years back, a divorce court in India looked like a haunted building. Now, it is one of the busiest buildings in any Indian city. Thanks to our modern India for having become the Outsourcing Hub of the world. There has been tremendous pressure on marriages in past few decades due to globalization that has induced foreign ideas across conservative cultures. Exposure to western culture triggers the human desire to explore the materialistic world. This leads to deterioration of value systems and cultures that were followed for thousands of years. And, then, the problem starts. In a nutshell, the environment that we live in creates those pressures and we gladly carry those bad energies with us home.
So, what do we do in such situations? Have we taken a moment to think about corrective steps when we lose our temper at home? Fellow Toastmasters, I would like to share a story with you today that made a radical impact on my perception of this troubled world. The name of the story is “The Law of the Garbage Truck”.
One day a man hopped in a taxi to get to the airport. The driver was driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of the taxi. The taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the black car whipped his head around and started yelling at the taxi driver. The man was infuriated. But the taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And, I mean, he was really friendly. The man was perplexed and asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when the taxi driver taught him a valuable lesson, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
CONCLUSION
Fellow Toastmasters, today, people start the day by pointing a majestic finger….using the French vocabulary ….honking as an act of road rage…..ignoring you as you wave at them bombarding you with venomous email or morphed mms ….
If that sounds like a morning routine around the world, how much of a culprit are we in this? Actually, most of us are no less competitive. Even if it is our own fault, we have our own set of defensive-vocabulary-kits and tactics to pay such punks back. We would find an excuse for the day to be grumpy and generously share the irritation to anyone who dares to come in our way. And, nothing makes us happier than seeing those punks getting annoyed. And when we get married, we allow this to percolate into our married lives.
MESSAGE
Fellow Toastmasters, let us change……let us be like the TAXI DRIVER….let us be wise and say, “No”, to garbage. Let us not be like the Garbage truck and make sure that we don’t carry garbage and spread it to other people because successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
So ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.
Life is ten percent “what you make it” and ninety percent “how you take it! “
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Friday, December 18, 2009
You run out of superlatives…….
The follow-spot focused on the other dignitaries that walked to the stage. The boisterous crowd was getting restless trying to spot the guest of the evening, but for a few seconds there was speculation all over as to where the guest was. Adding fuel to fire, the follow-spot was flashed all over the stage to further scramble and confuse the audience’s attempt to spot this guest on or near the stage. To everyone’s surprise the stage backdrop split open and this person walked on to the stage waving to the screaming crowd. The crowd went berserk as if they had just seen a superstar. If you are an assuming person and if you did not know who was going to appear, you would be in for a big surprise.
“You run out of superlatives”, said one of the Sri Lankan cricketers to portray Tendulkar’s achievements. This phrase crossed my mind when I was one of the thousands of Indians that thronged to watch a great human speak, just a few meters away. This person is not richer than Tendulkar, but an Indian who has achieved great successes beyond fame and wealth. The person had a sheepish smile. If you are not an unassuming person, you might consider this person’s outward appearance as very sub-standard. His unusual hairstyle was intriguing. But, he entered the stage like a rock star amidst boisterously cheerful crowd. Is the suspense killing you? Good. It is no other than our great, humble, simple “Missile Man of India”. The person is also called as the People’s President. You still have not got it. Eh?! No worries. At first, I didn’t either. It was no other than our eleventh President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. A true superstar indeed….
Thousands of school students had the honor of having Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as the Chief Guest of an event in Muscat, Oman. The man is an epitome of simplicity and humility. The man has no mask playing the role of a superstar. He was just him. He spoke very simple English, yet so powerful that the crowd erupted for every word uttered. His word was strikingly clear and connecting with the audience. He made the students and parents say some oaths which were very untypical and powerful.
I am not sure if the students realize the fantastic opportunity given to them to meet the “People’s President”. The credit goes to the committee members that had worked so hard for over six months to make this grand function happen. Kudos to the committee members and many that worked behind the scenes.
It is a shame that such heroes are being sidelined in India’s political world. As humans, it is fair to assume that, most of us have wondered whether honesty, fairness, simplicity and humility will ever make us successful in our materialistic life. But, this man, with all these rare qualities, has made it all the way to the President’s office. That is great way to lead by example.
He spoke of some incidents in his life that were strikingly powerful.
The first incident was when his school teacher took the students to the beach in Rameswaram where he was born and bred. The teacher pointed towards a bird and explained how the birds fly. That incident lit a spark in his innocent mind and triggered a sequence of thoughts determined to become somebody in the field of aeronautics. He ended up making missiles. The rest is history.
The second incident was about his encounter with a group of tribal students during his tour across India, as part of his stupendous “India Vision 2020”. While many students expressed their ambitions to become a doctor or an engineer, there was one student whose response was particularly incredible. This student was visually challenged. The visually challenged student said to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “I want to be the first visually challenged President of India”.
Well, I could not imagine what would have gone through Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s mind when he heard this. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam encouraged this boy to study well so that he could achieve his goals. The visually challenged boy scored high marks. His hard work, determination and ambition were so intense that he was selected by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Boston. Inspired by this visually challenged boy’s spirit, MIT has waived his fees 100%.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam paused for a few seconds, collected his thoughts, level-headed his emotions and said something very impressive about this boy. One could sense the joy and pride that Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had when he said, “This boy was offered a job by GE once he completed his studies. His response to GE: I will definitely take the job if I will not become the first visually challenged President of India”.
Impressive indeed!!
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has dedicated his life to ignite young minds across India. Imagine the capacity of igniting young minds like the mind of the visually challenged boy. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is doing a marvelous job of igniting millions of young minds. He is a true superstar and to describe a superhuman like Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, you run out of superlatives.
http://www.indiavision2020.org/
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s theme of the speech:
AIMING LOW IS A CRIME.
“You run out of superlatives”, said one of the Sri Lankan cricketers to portray Tendulkar’s achievements. This phrase crossed my mind when I was one of the thousands of Indians that thronged to watch a great human speak, just a few meters away. This person is not richer than Tendulkar, but an Indian who has achieved great successes beyond fame and wealth. The person had a sheepish smile. If you are not an unassuming person, you might consider this person’s outward appearance as very sub-standard. His unusual hairstyle was intriguing. But, he entered the stage like a rock star amidst boisterously cheerful crowd. Is the suspense killing you? Good. It is no other than our great, humble, simple “Missile Man of India”. The person is also called as the People’s President. You still have not got it. Eh?! No worries. At first, I didn’t either. It was no other than our eleventh President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. A true superstar indeed….
Thousands of school students had the honor of having Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as the Chief Guest of an event in Muscat, Oman. The man is an epitome of simplicity and humility. The man has no mask playing the role of a superstar. He was just him. He spoke very simple English, yet so powerful that the crowd erupted for every word uttered. His word was strikingly clear and connecting with the audience. He made the students and parents say some oaths which were very untypical and powerful.
I am not sure if the students realize the fantastic opportunity given to them to meet the “People’s President”. The credit goes to the committee members that had worked so hard for over six months to make this grand function happen. Kudos to the committee members and many that worked behind the scenes.
It is a shame that such heroes are being sidelined in India’s political world. As humans, it is fair to assume that, most of us have wondered whether honesty, fairness, simplicity and humility will ever make us successful in our materialistic life. But, this man, with all these rare qualities, has made it all the way to the President’s office. That is great way to lead by example.
He spoke of some incidents in his life that were strikingly powerful.
The first incident was when his school teacher took the students to the beach in Rameswaram where he was born and bred. The teacher pointed towards a bird and explained how the birds fly. That incident lit a spark in his innocent mind and triggered a sequence of thoughts determined to become somebody in the field of aeronautics. He ended up making missiles. The rest is history.
The second incident was about his encounter with a group of tribal students during his tour across India, as part of his stupendous “India Vision 2020”. While many students expressed their ambitions to become a doctor or an engineer, there was one student whose response was particularly incredible. This student was visually challenged. The visually challenged student said to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “I want to be the first visually challenged President of India”.
Well, I could not imagine what would have gone through Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s mind when he heard this. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam encouraged this boy to study well so that he could achieve his goals. The visually challenged boy scored high marks. His hard work, determination and ambition were so intense that he was selected by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Boston. Inspired by this visually challenged boy’s spirit, MIT has waived his fees 100%.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam paused for a few seconds, collected his thoughts, level-headed his emotions and said something very impressive about this boy. One could sense the joy and pride that Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had when he said, “This boy was offered a job by GE once he completed his studies. His response to GE: I will definitely take the job if I will not become the first visually challenged President of India”.
Impressive indeed!!
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has dedicated his life to ignite young minds across India. Imagine the capacity of igniting young minds like the mind of the visually challenged boy. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is doing a marvelous job of igniting millions of young minds. He is a true superstar and to describe a superhuman like Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, you run out of superlatives.
http://www.indiavision2020.org/
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s theme of the speech:
AIMING LOW IS A CRIME.
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