J u r n n g Green Speech Evaluation, on self-harming, success and defying denigrating labels

At Jurong Green I gained the Best Evaluator ribbon for my evaluation of Zachary Chan's speech. It was the second time I had heard the speech. The speech contained these ideas: 1 The speaker was born prematurely - but defeated medical expectation and survived. 2 He was told at school he would not succeed - but defied the teacher's prediction or label and persisted and succeeded. 3 He helped another student. 4 The other student had been denigrated by a teacher. 5 The other student was self-harming. Conclusion: don't enable the labels to be applied to you. The speech title depends on the memorability of the play on the word enable and label. He had changed the speech to present it as challenging labels which other people place on us. His symbol was a small stamper which he used to stamp on his hand. My comments were: What would we remember in a year's time? What serious problem in our lives would be solved? Did the symbol remind us? What was emotionally engaging? The stamp was too small. The hand and the stamp disappeared behind the lectern. The movement was so fast. It distracted me. By the time I had worked out that the small object was a stamper, I had lost the next sentence of the speech. The major story was the self-harming. I thought he should make that more dramatic by putting red on his wrist. Start with the wrist covered. Reveal the marks. Rub out the red marks. Then cover the wrist with short sleeve. I won the best evaluator ribbon. However, when I related this to a family member, he said that if he visited a club meeting for the first time and saw fake blood on somebody's wrist he would find it too upsetting and would not go back. So maybe forget the blood. Just roll the shirt sleeve up and down. Or write a message on your wrist and forehead and erase it. Or put two different labels on your forehead. The speaker dealt with a very important question, which has bothered me for a long time. Why is it that most people (children and adults) when told they will fail, get discouraged? Yet a few defiantly challenge the assumption and fight to prove wrong the speaker / teacher / fate? In the end it comes down to a 'can do' attitude. When an expert says it can't be done, get another expert. Every day is full of learning experiences, from consumers turing out restaurants and coffee, to relationships, work, health, money. We learn from our own experiences, the from observing the experiences of others, refine and adapt all the time, until we get things right. Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.