Its called "How to say it" and major focus is on use of rhetorical devices in the speech.
I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
Good Afternoon friends. No, that wasn’t my new years’ resolution. The oath that I just quoted is the philosophy of life of one of my best loved fictional characters, John Galt from one of my favorite books, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. And like John Galt, I too have a philosophy or a moral code of conduct for life. And that is the topic of my speech today - my philosophy of life. Don’t worry; I am not going to start preaching some shri shri shri 1008 baba xyzee’s mantra of life. You might also doubt that being a twenty something, isn’t it too early to try and find out and talk about philosophy of life?? Well, to that my answer is - maybe. Maybe after 20 years if I come across this speech I would find it stupid or childish - or maybe not. Because every person having a thought process of his own has to have some basic principles to abide by, which may have taken shape in his childhood and which he may not be aware of.
In my case, as a child, I loved to listen to bed time stories from my parents or grandparents. And I have to tell you, my grandma is a tremendous story teller - almost as good as a script narrator. There was this one story she used to tell which I liked a lot and now it has somehow become my strongest belief or the basis of my belief system. The story goes like this -
Once upon a time long long ago there was a big village - the usual Indian village with lots of greenery, wells with pulleys, bullock carts, people in colorful clothes, a pond, a temple of lord Shiva at the center and a severely strict stinking rich dictator kind of a king. One day, the king decided to offer his prayers in the Shiva temple by pouring milk on the idol, that is, doing an “abhishek” of milk. It is so believed that if the lord is sated with the offerings, then the milk starts overflowing and it means that your prayers have been accepted and you will be rewarded accordingly. Now lord Shiva being the sternest of Gods according to Hindu mythology, to please him is not a piece of cake, rather a carton of milk in this case. So the king thought they would need all the milk in the village and he ordered everyone having a cow to deposit its milk with the king’s men early in the morning. To each villager, the king’s order was paramount so they followed meekly and sacrificed their tea and their children’s quota of milk. But an old lady was adamant and did not heed to any of the soldier’s threats and did not give up her share. The soldiers thought what difference a liter or two of milk would make and left her with mere warnings. And then the “abhishek” of lord Shiva began. Whole of the village was gathered at the temple except of course our heroine, the old lady. The soldiers kept on bringing gallons and gallons of milk and the pundits kept on pouring it, but the lord was not sated. Eventually all the milk was exhausted so the king arranged for more milk from the neighboring villages and himself poured it - but still it didn’t overflow. Everyone stared thinking there must be some ghastly mistake that the king has committed and now will have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the old lady did all her housework, fed her children and then came to the temple with a small cup of leftover milk. All the villagers saw her with that small cup and laughed at her innocence. The king let her pass because he was desolate and clueless as to what would he do now that his plan had backfired. So our lady went in unhindered and poured her cup of milk on the idol - and lo and behold! It overflowed! The lord was sated! The prayers would now be answered! All because of the one lady who realized that it is important to be a human being and fulfill your responsibilities first - that’s what is moral and that’s what is honored - even by the Gods, that’s if they exist.
So this is the philosophy and guiding principle of my life. Part of this philosophy also comes from Ayn Rand - the author I quoted in the beginning and her theory of objectivism, which says rational self interest is the highest virtue.
To sum it all up, my code is to live, not merely exist, to defy rules that you cannot justify even if the king is issuing orders, to take care of yourself and your loved ones first, to think, to rationally evaluate any situation before jumping to conclusions, to listen to your conscience, to appreciate a thing of beauty, to follow your heart’s desires, to love and be loved, to make great friends who don’t mind being your punching bags at times, to be honest to yourself no matter what; and finally, to be able to look in the mirror eye to eye and say with full confidence - yes, that’s me and I am proud to be myself.
This speech took 7 minutues and was generally appreciated.
I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
Good Afternoon friends. No, that wasn’t my new years’ resolution. The oath that I just quoted is the philosophy of life of one of my best loved fictional characters, John Galt from one of my favorite books, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. And like John Galt, I too have a philosophy or a moral code of conduct for life. And that is the topic of my speech today - my philosophy of life. Don’t worry; I am not going to start preaching some shri shri shri 1008 baba xyzee’s mantra of life. You might also doubt that being a twenty something, isn’t it too early to try and find out and talk about philosophy of life?? Well, to that my answer is - maybe. Maybe after 20 years if I come across this speech I would find it stupid or childish - or maybe not. Because every person having a thought process of his own has to have some basic principles to abide by, which may have taken shape in his childhood and which he may not be aware of.
In my case, as a child, I loved to listen to bed time stories from my parents or grandparents. And I have to tell you, my grandma is a tremendous story teller - almost as good as a script narrator. There was this one story she used to tell which I liked a lot and now it has somehow become my strongest belief or the basis of my belief system. The story goes like this -
Once upon a time long long ago there was a big village - the usual Indian village with lots of greenery, wells with pulleys, bullock carts, people in colorful clothes, a pond, a temple of lord Shiva at the center and a severely strict stinking rich dictator kind of a king. One day, the king decided to offer his prayers in the Shiva temple by pouring milk on the idol, that is, doing an “abhishek” of milk. It is so believed that if the lord is sated with the offerings, then the milk starts overflowing and it means that your prayers have been accepted and you will be rewarded accordingly. Now lord Shiva being the sternest of Gods according to Hindu mythology, to please him is not a piece of cake, rather a carton of milk in this case. So the king thought they would need all the milk in the village and he ordered everyone having a cow to deposit its milk with the king’s men early in the morning. To each villager, the king’s order was paramount so they followed meekly and sacrificed their tea and their children’s quota of milk. But an old lady was adamant and did not heed to any of the soldier’s threats and did not give up her share. The soldiers thought what difference a liter or two of milk would make and left her with mere warnings. And then the “abhishek” of lord Shiva began. Whole of the village was gathered at the temple except of course our heroine, the old lady. The soldiers kept on bringing gallons and gallons of milk and the pundits kept on pouring it, but the lord was not sated. Eventually all the milk was exhausted so the king arranged for more milk from the neighboring villages and himself poured it - but still it didn’t overflow. Everyone stared thinking there must be some ghastly mistake that the king has committed and now will have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the old lady did all her housework, fed her children and then came to the temple with a small cup of leftover milk. All the villagers saw her with that small cup and laughed at her innocence. The king let her pass because he was desolate and clueless as to what would he do now that his plan had backfired. So our lady went in unhindered and poured her cup of milk on the idol - and lo and behold! It overflowed! The lord was sated! The prayers would now be answered! All because of the one lady who realized that it is important to be a human being and fulfill your responsibilities first - that’s what is moral and that’s what is honored - even by the Gods, that’s if they exist.
So this is the philosophy and guiding principle of my life. Part of this philosophy also comes from Ayn Rand - the author I quoted in the beginning and her theory of objectivism, which says rational self interest is the highest virtue.
To sum it all up, my code is to live, not merely exist, to defy rules that you cannot justify even if the king is issuing orders, to take care of yourself and your loved ones first, to think, to rationally evaluate any situation before jumping to conclusions, to listen to your conscience, to appreciate a thing of beauty, to follow your heart’s desires, to love and be loved, to make great friends who don’t mind being your punching bags at times, to be honest to yourself no matter what; and finally, to be able to look in the mirror eye to eye and say with full confidence - yes, that’s me and I am proud to be myself.
This speech took 7 minutues and was generally appreciated.
