i just saw the you tube video of the miss teen
she was asked what she thought of a study that finds that most americans cannot locate their country on the map. simple question, right? but her answer was not that simple. in fact she was incoherent! she began mumbling this answer:
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us”.
whew! i was actually squirming in my seat towards the middle of that speech. and the look on the host’s face (was it mario lopez?) was equally painful, seemingly telling her to stop, stop digging her own grave. naawa ako sa kanya. i understand what she went through, more or less. i was in a similar situation before.
i have actually forgotten all about it, but it suddenly came back to me as i was watching the video. no, i was not in a beauty pageant! hahaha. i was in an oratorical contest, chosen by my english teacher to represent the class in an elimination tilt to determine the school’s rep to a regional oratorical contest. i was very reluctant knowing my own stage fright but mrs. robles was adamant. i was the best bet. i still remember the poem, the man with the hoe.
my delivery was excellent, at first. i was hitting the correct modulation, making the appropriate gestures, remembering my lines. i recall seeing mrs. robles watching from the back of the auditorium with such pride in her eyes. then it happened. towards the end of the long poem i froze, my mind completely blank. there i was, in front of hundreds of students, in panic, my mind racing but still blank. it was a meltdown! all i could do was go back to my chair and sit down. everybody knew that i froze, it was obvious. i couldn’t fake it, the judges had copies of my piece. sitting there in front of everybody while other contestants took turns reciting the same piece was torture!
i vowed never to let the same thing happen again. since then i always came fully prepared for any public speaking task and fully confident of my skills to sail through it with flying colors. i empathize with the girl in the pageant, and i know that she’ll get over it, stronger and wiser, just like i did.
