Speech is More Than an MC

Not too long ago I was invited by some former students to give a speech for the National Honor Society where I used to teach. Though I've tried, I still believe I have failed to accurately and honestly express the honor and gratitude that this invitation induced.

I won't delve into the hours I spent mulling an appropriate and effective topic, the time I considered the best delivery. I chose to speak honestly. I have included here the text on which my speech was based. Long ago I decided that I would teach and speak from notes rather than verbatim text, as this leaves freedom to explore other avenues and to present more conversationally. The text provided below omits a point about expressing appreciation (which I will revisit in another blog post). In that section I spoke a bit about my friend and mentor, Matt. You can read a bit of his story here: Matt's Updates.

Here's the text:

First, let me congratulate the new inductees. I would welcome you to the National Honor Society, but I was denied induction. I would also like to thank you for the honor of addressing you this evening. When Mrs. S______ extended your invitation to speak you tonight, I wanted to be sure I had something to say, something to offer you that might differ from the speeches you’ve heard in this setting.

You’ve heard enough speeches about setting goals and achieving results. You’re obviously capable of achievement, or you wouldn’t have been selected to join the National Honor Society (NHS). When you set aside results and stop focusing solely on attaining an objective, you have your life. Even recently some of you have expressed to me your worry regarding graduation, exams, scholarship and college applications. If you don’t slow down, you’ll miss your last year or two of high school. Take a breath, and enjoy the journey.

About a month ago, Santa Claus stopped by my house and dropped a new CD down my chimney. It’s by a guy named Tom T. Hall, a country singer who wrote and recorded many songs for children. It’s an important record in the B____ family because my maternal grandfather played these songs for us when I was a kid. In fact, my sisters and I did improvisational karaoke of a couple TTH songs at my wedding reception. As I listened to these songs this Christmas, one called “I Love” stayed with me a little more than before. The song is primarily a list of things TTH (or the narrator) loves: “little baby ducks, old pick-up trucks, slow-moving trains, and rain”; “leaves in the wind, pictures of my friends, birds of the world, and squirrels.” And each verse ends with the sweet, “And I love you, too.” It’s a nice thought, reflecting on the things in the world that you love, that make you happy. (Those of you who read the uplifting Our Town in my class will recognize this exercise.) But one line from the last verse hangs with me more than the others: “I love honest open smiles, kisses from a child, tomatoes on the vine and onions.” And onions?! There are a couple levels to my appreciation of this line, the least of which is that I detest tomatoes on the vine and onions. It’s great that TTH is voicing his love for fresh vegetables, but what rhymes with onions? The following end word is “life,” which doesn’t even sorta rhyme with onions. So I like this. I like that TTH takes a break from his established pattern (or rhyme scheme for you poetry fans). This is a song that has brought, and continues to bring, great joy to me. In addition to being a cute little tune, it was one that we played over and over when my grandfather died. Please, in the midst of your stress, take a moment to consider little things that bring you joy.

Finally, several of you have inquired what I’ve been doing now that I’m not teaching. The answers vary—taking care of my wife and two children, writing, learning to play blues guitar, entering a cooking contest, reading linguistic studies. Yeah, reading linguistic studies, which would be true even if I were not here tonight. One I read recently deals with emotional words in the English language. Using the methodology of word recognition, researchers questioned native-English-speaking adults. The results were that the average native English-speaking adult has an emotional vocabulary consisting of 50% negative words, 30% positive, and 20% neutral. No wonder some of the greatest poetry is so awfully depressing! The lesson here, other than to expand your vocabulary, is one from Kurt Vonnegut. In his final published work—A Man Without a Country—Vonnegut writes about an uncle who felt man’s greatest problem was that he never recognized when he was truly happy. He sets a scene of some family members sitting on the front porch on a summer night, sipping lemonade. Vonnegut’s uncle exclaims, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” So I join Kurt Vonnegut in urging you “to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”