Peace Speakers Happily Collaborate

The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

OUR PRESIDENT AND AREA GOVERNOR EXCHANGE GREETINGS

                                                  
Robin, President of Peace Speakers, welcomes everyone to our May 20th club meeting.  She notes that John Frederick, our Area 66 Governor for Toastmasters, is visiting us today.  Robin's expression denotes how we feel having John on the premises.  It's always great to have his expertise and insight.

INVOCATION TIED TO SPRING 

Kay, invocation leader for the day (and your blogger), draws a correlation between the miracle of spring and rejuvenation in our own lives.  Spring is a time to renew the excitement and zest for life that lives inside us.  During our meeting today, Kay invokes us to act like emerging buds on a tree and to unfold ourselves.  With Peace Speakers as our nurturing soil, and the support we get from one another as our sunlight, she encourages us to grow our courage and our talents by sharing openly.  And even if we don't feel 100% ready to put ourselves out there, push through those moments of doubt!  Then...don't be surprised if you see a shift, an emergence of growth within you that spring and your friends around you will joyfully celebrate.  

JOKE MASTER EVOKES SMILES

Denise, our Joke Master for the day, shares a delightful example of humor taken from Art Linkletter's book called Kids Say the Darndest Things:

While walking outside along the front of his church, a minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt.  Apparently his 5-year-old son and some friends found a dead robin.  Feeling that they needed to give it a proper burial, they placed it in a small box and then dug a hole.  The minister's son was chosen to say an appropriate prayer.  With all seriousness, he intoned his version of what he thought his father always said at funerals, "Glory be unto the Faaaaaather, and unto the Sonnnn...and into the hole you gooooo..."

I recall watching this show (named after Linkletter's book) back in the 1960's.  This man was such a good listener and mastered the art of drawing out the sentiments of children like a magician. Here's a link if you want to enjoy some video clips of interviews Linkletter had with small children.  It's a step back in time but timeless humor!  Kids Say the Darndest Things

TOASTMASTER COMES ON BOARD

Toastmaster for the day, Eric, opens up the educational part of our meeting.  He brings attention to the sweet image atop our agenda of a bird with its wing draped over a mouse, seemingly cuddling it.  They look like best buds.  He references other uncommon interactions among animals like the Clydesdale horse and puppy in the Bud Lite commercial.  There's also the rat snake that makes nice with a hamster that it originally intended for lunch.  Eric notes that the theme of our meeting is friendship and references the members of our own families who seem unlikely or much different from us.  He also encourages us to let friends know we care and value them.

With friendships in mind, take a look at one of my all-time favorite videos of an unlikely friendship between Tara and Bella, which chokes me up every time.  For a refreshing break from your busy day, here's the link:  The Unlikely Friendship of Tara and Bella

Before long, we learn that our Word of the Day for this meeting is collaborate, and that is what we do to bring our Toastmaster meetings to fruition.  We work together to plan a theme for our gathering and look for ways to tie it into Table Topics or other aspects of our meeting.  Collaborating with others creates special opportunities for growth.  It's at the core of Toastmasters!

1st PREPARED SPEAKER FOR THE DAY  

Kristi gave her 3rd speech today and decided to give me a shortened version of it rather than a word-to-word account.  I always enjoy hearing from Kristi, who just naturally has a unique perspective on the world.  This is her synopsis of the speech she gave.

Toastmaster Speech #3: Get to the Point

"Come on In.  The Water's Fine"

                                                                                                       

My speech basically expressed my belief that we all need to try new things, especially if they are outside of our comfort zone.  I said I knew that everyone in our meeting already agreed with me and that was because they had joined Peace Speakers.  Hence my point was already made!  I pointed out my enjoyment of our club because of the variety of backgrounds and that members are so supportive of each other.  I believe expanding one’s prudent risk-taking is a way to grow both professionally and personally.

I gave a few examples of trying new things from my own experience, not only Peace speakers, but my deciding to visit Gilda’s Club (of Louisville) since I’m a colon cancer survivor.  Not only do they have a variety of activities, including a writing class (one of my favorites) but also training for the mini-marathon.  I practiced training for my own "mini" mini-marathon of about four miles, and another Peace Speaker, Kerri, has also walked with me on Sundays, where we got caught in the rain the last Sunday we walked at Iroquois Park.

One of the benefits of trying new things is it gets one out of the doldrums and forces us to interact with people, which is important. 

It's so true that some risk-taking and putting yourself out there is essential to a meaningful life. This blogger knows well that one of the great benefits of being in Toastmasters is getting to hear the words of others spoken so passionately. It is often moving, motivating, and compelling!

2nd PREPARED SPEAKER FOR THE DAY

Megan, who gave her 4th speech today called "Mary Agnes Flood", proceeded to share with us why her grandmother was such an integral part of her life.  I share Megan's speech in its entirety and hope you'll take time to enjoy its craftsmanship and emotional content.

Toastmasters Speech #4: How to Say It

“Mary Agnes Flood”

At five feet tall, Mary Agnes Flood was a small woman. She spoke softly and slowly with a lilting Southern accent. I can still hear her voice in my mind, reciting the Hail Mary as she prayed the rosary or humming as she cooked dinner.

Mary was my grandmother and she was better known in my family as Mamaw Flood. She was a powerful role model in my life. Not because I aspired to have her life, but because of the way she had lived her own.

So today, I’d like to share some stories with you about Mary, this woman who has become a vital part of me. I’ll focus on three themes that undercut the life that she lived: love, hard work and faith.

It’s always good to lead with love, in anything, so let’s start there.

Mary was born in 1925 and she was raised in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, about two hours west of here. She graduated from Breckinridge County High School in 1944 and married Harold Flood shortly thereafter.

Harold and Mary Agnes Flood, grandparents of Megan

Harold was a farmer and after they got married, they moved out to a farm on New Bethel Road. Mary raised nine children with Harold, including my mother, Rose Mary. After a while, there were so many Floods on New Bethel Road that they literally changed the name to Flood Road.

When Mary and Harold’s children grew up and started their own families, in true Catholic form, she gained a legion of grandchildren. Despite being just one in this legion, I always felt loved when I was in her presence. She was not overly sentimental, but love flowed from her hands in the smallest of actions. In the way she helped me learn which shoe went on which foot by marking the insides that needed to match up with a blue marker. In the way she never failed to offer to make me a pimiento cheese sandwich or tomato soup after I became vegetarian. Even in the way she made me hold hands with my cousin Katie and say the Hail Mary after we had an especially painful cheek-squeezing contest.

Her love was not complicated. It was simple, patient and honest. It was a love that had been kindled over the years and made stronger so that it wrapped you in its warmth like the colorful quilts she would make each winter. And it is now a love I try to carry forward in my own hands to deliver to family and friends.

Hard work was a constant in Mary’s life, and retirement was simply not in her vocabulary. As I grew taller, it seemed like she would grow a little bit shorter each year. Her back was hunched and the skin on her small hands was weathered from countless seasons of gardening and never-ending housework.

Each spring, without fail, Mary would put out a garden. She would plant rows upon rows of sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, cabbages, cucumbers, watermelons, green beans. You name it, it was in her garden.

But of course the work didn’t stop at putting out the garden. There was also the weeding and the hoeing to be done each day. And later the canning and pickling and jellying. And then the cooking, and the serving of the food, before finally sitting down on the red stool beside my Papaw that was her place at the table.

She did not even have a real chair, only a temporary resting place before the next task needed to be tended to. Just thinking about all this now makes me feel tired. But she did this throughout her entire life, while raising nine children. And in comparison to our flurry of complaints when asked to help pick green beans or shuck corn, I never once heard her complain.

Sometimes I think about this when I’m ranting to my friends about how I have too much going on at work. And I try to remind myself that instead of complaining incessantly, I would be better served by putting out my own version of Mary’s garden, focusing on each step along the way.

And last, there is faith. Mary was a devout Catholic. To my knowledge, she never missed a Sunday mass unless she was bedridden, which was very likely never.

One of the most vivid images I have in my mind is of her kneeling to pray the rosary in the evening. When we stayed with her in the summer, she would have us kneel around her reading chair to pray with her. The chair was tan and covered in a pattern of pale red flowers that I would study as I half-heartedly turned the rosary beads in my hands, my knees cold upon the hard tile floor.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the term “Catholic Guilt” but it’s a real thing. The prayers and motions I learned growing up as a Catholic are as familiar to me as breathing, but I’m no longer a practicing Catholic. And I sometimes feel guilty because of how devoted my grandmother was to her faith.

But still I appreciate what I learned from growing up around someone with such steadfast beliefs. Because hers was not a faith that made her judge others who did not agree with her views. It did not create a hardness or stinginess or haughtiness in her. Instead it seemed that faith provided her strength and expanded her capacity for love and understanding.

So while I no longer attend mass on Sunday or pray the rosary, I try to carry forward my own humanist brand of faith. At its core, this faith includes the values of reflection, of kindness and of service that I learned from my grandmother.

Mary passed away in February of 2009 from stomach cancer. She was 88 years old. I was a junior in college at the University of Kentucky at the time.

She had lived a good, long life but of course we wished she could have stayed around longer. Like all those who affect our lives so deeply, she has not entirely left, and she likely never will. Humming an Irish hymn in the kitchen, standing in front of the stove wearing her black and white gingham apron.

She will continue to live on, not just in my mind with these images, but in my own actions of love, in a hard day’s work, and in the faith that teaches love, compassion and strength.

This speech was quite moving to hear at our meeting and is just as enjoyable to read, Megan!   It takes me back to my own grandmother, who exemplified similar qualities.  Thank you for painting such a vivid picture of your own grandmother and giving me a moment to remember my own.

 TABLE TOPICS ALLOW PARTICIPANTS TO SHARE

Connie, our Table Topics Master for the day, offer prompts she has prepared to willing participants.  Her focus is on friendship, and those who take a prompt will get 1-2 minutes to share their responses.  This is a perfect opportunity to practice the art of impromptu speaking, and it's an art that only gets better with practice.  

Tanja is the first one to volunteer, and she draws a prompt asking her to describe one of her best friends.  She shares that her best friend, Beta, still lives in Holland, where Tanja once lived.  40 years have passed, yet they have remained close since they were 10.  Beta has always been there for her through thick and thin.  It's like no time has passed when she makes the trip back to Holland to visit.

Catherine is asked to share what friendship means to her.  She notes that it means a variety of things.  After all, you can be having a crummy day and a good friend won't hold it against you.  They'll give you space and won't let it affect how they feel about you or how much they love you.  A true friend is someone who helps you hide the body after you kill someone.  Knowing that isn't in her cards, Catherine still hopes to be that caliber of a friend to others.

Kristi draws the prompt that asks what's terrible about friendship.  She admits that she thought she was friends with a certain guy, yet they had a gazillion trials.  Meanwhile, as she struggled with this relationship, her job was disastrous and the apartment they shared was crappy.  Then a girl she thought was her friend cleared out the apartment of all of her stuff and became this guy's girlfriend.  It was all very upsetting.  However, sometime later she had the satisfaction of telling this guy to buzz off when he later tried to win her back.

And the winner is...Kristi!  Listeners chose her spontaneous speech as their favorite, so she earned a trophy she can use for bragging rights until our next Peace Speakers meeting in June.  The fact that she volunteered to participate in Table Topics after giving a speech just shows how driven Kristi is to hone her skills.

EVALUATORS SHARE THEIR OPINIONS

Perry, Kristi's speech evaluator, admits that he really enjoyed her speech.  To him, the speech's theme seemed to be that people should get out and take risks.  He liked the many personal accounts she gave and enjoyed learning more about her. He liked the great memories and insights she shared.  He noted her relaxed, low-key, and confident style of delivery.  He did add that maybe next time she could rely less on her notes.  

Robin, Megan's speech evaluator, really enjoyed hearing about Mary Agnes Flood.  She notes that everyone was drawn in by her words about her grandmother.  It was obvious that the audience connected strongly.  Megan's language was very descriptive, and Robin felt she could see her grandmother through her vivid descriptions. Her only suggestions were to pause more intentionally and to slow down during the descriptions...so that the audience would have time to visualize.

Maybe you're a visitor to this blog.  Here's your chance to visit us!  If you want to develop or grow your communication and leadership skills, Toastmasters is a great avenue.  Come visit us sometime and so that we may warmly welcome you.

OUR NEXT FEW 2015 MEETINGS:

June 3 - Conference Room B

June 17 - Conference Room B

Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club

1st and 3rd Wednesdays (usually)

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

100 Witherspoon Street

Downtown Louisville, KY

Respectfully submitted,

Kay Chambers

Blogger for Peace Speakers

To access our previous blogs, here are the links: 

http://peacespeakerslouisvilletoastmasters.blogspot.com/  

 http://peacespeakerstoastmasters.blogspot.com/ 

(We kept running out of space and needed to start new ones!)