The Hardest Lesson

I haven't been blogging lately. I did tell you I would when there was something worth blogging. Well, here it is:






There are words that make us
shudder, wince;
Wormwood,persimmon,
Alum, quince.

There are words that soothe,
tranquilize;
Slumbering, rainbows,
Butterflies.

There are words that tighten,
Words that roll;
Tension, turmoil,
Chaos, spoil.

There are words that shimmer,
beguile;
Stars, ships,
Firelight, smile.

And of course,
Words that make our lives full;
Peace, love,
Home, beautiful


Good morning to the panel of distinguished judges, teachers and fellow friends. My speech today is entitled 'Words, Words and Words'. Marvellous aren’t they, words? Such a beautiful instrument that we can experience- hold a second. How is it that you know what my words meant? Ah, yes. With words you are able to understand what my point is, and not some random thought, though I'm sure you wouldn't want to know what I was thinking like, what’s for lunch? Fellow audience, you might ask, what is the reason I speak of words? Nathaniel Hawthorne once spoke of how potent words are for good and evil. Yes, for evil. We all know that words could cut, hence are we all murderers? I confess, I myself am a murderer too. I’m a downright smooth criminal- with words. Isn't it just exciting to use that fantastic, flamboyant, furious, flaming F-word? Very naughty, but is it that fun? Gone were the days when insults had class with words- glorious insults before the English language got boiled down to four-letter words. Who then could truly be a man of words? Ask me and I’ll tell you Winston Churchill, the famous Prime Minister of England during the World War 2. Why? Let’s take a look of an exchange between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor. She told him, "If you were my husband, I'd give you poison" He replied, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it". Don't you see? With a mere clever manipulation of words and wit, you can turn the whole tide of the conversation around Words also give you that extra edge over your speech, what we call ‘the cheek’. Just like what Oscar Wilde said, “Some people spread happiness WHEREVER they go, some, WHENEVER they go”. So, watch what you say, because I will make you eat your words. Fellow audience, when you have the power of an atomic bomb, you have a history worth knowing, Words originated when the Anglo-Saxons spread their Germanic language all over Northern Europe, followed by the Norse invaders, or what we call ‘Vikings’, who spread their own influences into the language. Words might have been used by invaders, but that doesn’t mean we’re invaders right? We’re the killers, remember? Anyway, thanks to an event called The Great Vowel Shift, words were made to pronounce the way they are, no sticky stacky words, just plain, A, E, I, O, U. The progress of words. Flowing with the modern era we are expected to advance with words but now, things just keep getting shorter and shorter. Ladies and gentlemen we are introduced to something called SMSes, which are text messages comprising words, symbols and numerals all combined into one. SMSes have been a scarily popular trend. I was in a daze to discover that my grandmother was an expert at using text messages. Could you imagine that? Often we can hear teachers nagging at students at how a massive complex word could be shortened to like, what say you, two or three acronyms? Acronyms such as 'MYOB' or 'GTH'. 'MYOB' stands for 'Mind your own beeswax!', while 'GTH' stands for 'Go to..heaven' Or is it the other way round? Isn't this all a paradox of society? In modern life we can send people to the moon, we have so many developments in science and technology, yet we still see people using short forms, symbols, squiggles and hieroglyphics in our everyday words! What, and I repeat what is communication technology coming to?

Consequentially, we should learn to love and treasure our words. Remember that atavism is not progress and reverting to an archaic form of writing is not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Let us embrace the power of words. A careless word may kindle strife, a cruel word may wreck one’s life. A timely word may level stress, a loving word may heal and bless. P and P on that. No, it’s not a new acronym, it’s called, Pause..and Ponder. Thank you.






There are just so much things in my mind I have right now..I don't think it's appropriate I put it now, please don't ask me to. I just feel sad, disappointed, down and very dissatisfied that I didn't make it to nationals.

In the end, I keep telling myself this quote from The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (not sure if it's exactly like in the movie):

"You may be as mad as the dogs at what happened, and you might curse the fates at all you've been through, but in the end, you have to let it go"

Friday, July 24, 2009