08 May, 2006

Failures and Rewards

Sunday was a hot afternoon. I was dragging my feet to Braddell heights CC to attend International Speech & Table Topics Contest organised by S Division Toastmaster Club. There were 5 contestants and each speech was captivating and entertaining.

One of the speeches that caught my attention was the 1st speaker, Benjamin Cheng. He told a story about his nephew, had a fall, got up and continued to walk. Soon, he fell down again but this time he refused to get up. He said, "bum pain pain and why not you carry me?" No matter how much Ben asked or coax him to get up, he simply refused. Until, Benjamin gave in and finally says:"Alright, i will treat you ice-cream." The kid immediately said, "I want Haagen Dazs, cholocate chips ice-cream." and he got up immediately.

This gives me a room to ponder. Even a kid would ask for a reward. In our life, our rewards can be big or small. In the working environment, you could be asking for a promotion/pay increment or in life you could just win a lottery or even a free vacation to rest your feet.

No matter what the reward is. Have we ever think about: Everytime when we make a fall, how much time do we need to get up on our feet and move on? Are we waiting for our rewards to drop down before we can move on? What happens if the rewards never appear or not yet to appear, does that means that we could never move on?

Some people make a fall in their life and refuse to face it and thinkin that the problem will disappear or fade off one day. While others will choose to face the problem bravely and move on with their life. These are the people who see the sunlight in the tunnel and will shine brighter than others.

I find that his speech was inspiring. It teaches me to face my own fear and problems bravely in future. Not to run away from it as i know it will not go away. I know i just have to do something to tackle it :) Yes, and im glad that i dragged my feet to the CC that day.

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