Whew! It's been a long time since I last posted here. There's a somewhat heavy reason for that: I accidentally clicked on a website that literally copy-pasted one of my blogs here. What a discouragement that was for me! Someone else earned from my work. But today, after deciding to open my blog again after months of neglect (more on because of dismay, actually), I realized that it's ok if someone plagiarized my work, what's more important is that I have helped other people as well. I know how difficult it can be at times to make essays and reaction papers (why else would other people come to me to make one for them..aside from laziness? haha!)
Anyway, here is an essay I wrote for my student. It's an oration piece, more of. I was her coach for the oration themed Weaving Talents Towards Excellence (she didn't win though). I hope this will help you too.
Friends,
honored guests, fellow language learners, we are all gathered here today, in
line with the festivities being initiated, a tradition in the making, of
celebrating & showcasing the talents we are endowed with, in pursuit of
excellence.
Let me share to
you a secret, or perhaps I should say insecurity I kept to myself until this
moment. Upon reading the theme we have for this year’s festivity, “Weaving
talents towards excellence”, only two words registered in my mind clearly:
talent, & excellence. Which of the two am I better at? Or should I say, do
I even have either of that? Believe me, that’s what was running my mind. To
find out for myself, I asked Google first to find a better understanding of
those two keywords. The answer I got was that “talent is natural &
excellence is a choice”. Personally, that eased my anxiety for only a bit.
Forgive me if I
lack faith in myself. As a Filipino, it is normal. We normally lack faith in
ourselves as a people, don’t you agree with me? I know, at the back of your
minds, you do. Even Lee Kuan Yew, the father of Singapore, said that in a
speech in an event in Manila in front of many top leaders of our society in
1997. Mahathir Muhammed, the architect of modern Malaysia, said that also in
his speech at the University of Santo Tomas in May 2012. Lack of faith in
ourselves is a great cultural flaw we have come to accept. We are in this stage
of acceptance now, and the step we need to do next is to find ways on how to
untangle the threads of insecurity and low self- image in the skeins of history
and weave faith, positivity, & healthy, wonderful self-image as a people to
rebuild the Filipino spirit, to create a better-looking tapestry for the future.
As what Alex Lacson said in his book Faith in the Filipino: 12 Wonderful Things
about the Filipino & our Motherland, we need to rediscover our beauty,
potential, and greatness as a people, those that God endowed in the Filipino
& our Motherland.
If lack of
faith in us as a people is one great hindrance towards progress and national development,
then as a person, my lack of belief in my talent and capacity is my hindrance
towards better self-image and excellence. But, somehow, acknowledging the fact
that I am now standing here in front of you and not someone else from my school
is giving me assurance that I, indeed, have a talent: the talent of being able
to understand & speak the languages of the world. I am a Filipino; I am one
of the best communicators in the world. Delivering this oration in front of you
is my beginning. And I believe in the promise of small beginnings. If Google is
right that excellence is a choice, and I believe he is, this is my step towards
better self- image, towards excellence.
So, to those of
you here who, like me, are taking their small steps towards achieving
excellence, we are in this together, with our tangled skeins of insecurity and
self- doubt. Together let us untangle them and begin weaving threads of positivity
& faith in ourselves to be able to hang a frame of a tapestry of excellence
that we can show off and be proud of.
