Contest Piece International - 2010: Light and Flame

Piece for International Speech Contest
Program Year   : PY 2009-2010

Title          : Light and Flame

Delivered at   : PRCT Club Level International Speech Contest

Evaluated by   : ACB/ALB Roi Ontiveros

Target Norm    : - not yet identified - 

Note:  

• The speaker won 3rd place behind TM Roi Ontiveros - 2nd, and TM Ron Jacobe - 1st place

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<< Set a paper into flames>>

If you wonder if I am going to hurt myself with the flame… or perhaps think I am going to burn the PELA room, be glad… I will not! 

Fellow Toastmasters, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen good evening. 

Allow me to ask each and every one of you here, how long have you been walking in the journey called life? I could see young professionals whom I believe just started their real journey. There are not so young professional whom I could say, had been walking for awhile.  And yes, there few of us here – I will not dare mention their names least they be identified as oldies – whom had been walking for a very long time.  I asked, simply because I want you to take a look if in that journey, a have you been a flash flame! We have word for that in Filipino – ningas cogon.

I was a flash flame, fellow Toastmasters, and I am not ashamed to confess I am. Born during difficult times, my mother raised me to be quick, tactical and street-smart. She taught me that earning a living comes first than reading books; and that I have to be ahead of everyone else, lest I would end up begging for crumbs and pieces. Yes, I walk my life in quick flames:  I finish early education within 8 years instead of 10, financially independent at 15, and completed 2 bachelor’s degrees and a Masters at the age of 25.  The color of my career was red-orange, the color of avarice and rage.  I rose to the ranks in the corporate ladder, leaving in my trail burned colleagues, charred enemies, and abandoned friends. I was a flame, a large quick flame.  I easily attracted followers in a snap, and I led them blindly to work for me. But just like cotton flame, it was fleeting and didn’t last.

When I look around, I realized our world is replete of people who are flash flames.  There are leaders and managers promising changes but fall short on the long run. And what saddens me the most, is to see a quick flame wearing a Toastmaster’s pin.   Have you seen them fellow Toastmasters?  These are the Toastmasters who started like fire – a blaze of flame – eager to learn the Toastmaster’s way.  They became good speakers – some became champion, and they became trained leaders – some became officers.  But where are they now? You don’t see them anymore!  Again, like cotton in flames… they were fleeting and they didn’t last. 

<< Light the Candle>>

From the ashes of my doing, I ponder what have I went wrong.  There, I found the lost words of my father whom thirty years ago, told me to burn like a candle: to be a light –not a quick flame, warm – not blinding, steady – not fleeting. And if I could go back in time, I would spend my early days in full so I would enjoy what it is to be a child.  I would only choose one degree and spend more time building peers and friends.  I would choose slow accent to the corporate ranks but carry along those who work with me.  But I cannot go back in time.  Even if I wanted to change, don’t know how.

Few years ago, when I came to Saudi Arabia, I started as a flame: I want to have it all.  And even when I joined Toastmasters I carried the trait of a flame: daring and brash.  I thought, this is just like another goal and all I have to do is rush. Soon I realize, it is not!  

When I look around, I realized that Toastmasters is rich with light not just flash flames.  In PRTC, we call them our pillar, guru, or friends whom one way or another help up grow. Have  you seen them fellow Toastmasters?  These are our good speakers in the club who filled our heart with the wit and content of their speeches.  These are our old members, who stayed with us and help us make our baby steps in the club.  These are our friends, in PRTC, who never ceased to encourage us whenever we are weary or down.  They are the ordinary members, who never get tired attending meetings just to learn and develop even if it is slowly.

Two years, it took me, to understand that Toastmasters is not just developing speaking skills – yes I have improved delivering speeches; it is not just training us to be good leaders – yes you gave me a change to be a good President; but more importantly it is also a way to change my heart – yes PRTC, you help me change from a quick flame into a light.  A transformation that I thought, I could never achieve.

Again, allow me to ask.  In your journey in life, were you a light?   Were you a beacon of inspiration, a source of strength for some, and a friend for others?   If you are, hold and keep the light burning so other may follow your steps.