Speech time!

For the third straight year I will be going to an annual luncheon sponsored by the Physically Challenged Irish And American Youth Team in honor of a delegation of disabled children visiting from the emerald isle. Last year I was a nervous wreck preparing and then giving a short speech to give to the event’s attendees but it thankfully turned out very well:

In the end I got a standing ovation (from those who could stand, that is) and it was then that I was filled with pride in accomplishing both what I had been sent out to do as well as to overcome the mistakes I made in previous occasions.

This year I will probably be made to speak again. Honestly, I don’t mind having to talk in front of crowds big or small. My main preoccupation is with saying the right thing in the right way to the right crowd. In retrospect, I nailed the first two parts but I don’t think it resonated well with the kids.

Yet if I’m granted the opportunity to speak at next Tuesday’s affair I anticipate that I will have the kids’ attention. The topic for my speech will be on the late Henry Viscardi Jr. - a visionary who emphasized that disabled people deserve to be empowered in order to be functional members of society. I was lucky enough not only to graduate from the school that bares his name but to also have met him on several occasions. He was truly an inspiration and someone I have never forgotten.

In a small cabinet in my bedroom I have a copy of one of his books: Give Us the Tools. I believe it is in that book where he said:

"Life demands love. Loving means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all. Faith means believing the unbelievable, and to hope means hoping when things are hopeless."

I am ready for the luncheon.

Aid to our Peruvian brothers

Image via MSNBC

"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that it the common right of humanity." -- Seneca the Elder

I don't like to toot my own horn (so to speak) but the following is a partial reproduction of a post I wrote up on The Latin Americanist yesterday calling for help for survivors of last week's quakes in Peru:

"You can help provide assistance to Peruvians in several ways:

• Several Peruvian Consulates in the U.S. have appealed for aid to quake victims. For instance, the Consulate in Miami has issued a comprehensive list of items for donation including clothes, medical equipment, batteries, cots, and medicine. Other consulates in areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta have their own suggestions on how to help and that information can be accessed here.
• A special bank account has been established for direct deposit donations for the recovery effort: “HSBC Bank, USA
  Account Name: Embassy of Peru - Sismo Peru 2007
  Account Number: 389060178
  Routing Number: 021001088”
• Lastly, several well-known international charities have also set up donation funds including the American Red Cross, Oxfam America, and CARE. (More charities donating to rescue efforts can be seen via the Charity Navigator site.)"

Blog Latina Viva has been thoughtful enough to reproduce that post as part of their call for assistance. I'm very thankful for that and hope others can heed their call.

The other day my mom, brothers, and I talked briefly on the destruction and devastation left behind by the earthquakes. We agreed that we will provide a small monetary donation to a well-known charity like Oxfam or the Red Cross. Though we're not completely sure how much it will be we hope that it will provide some tiny solace to those whose lives have been changed radically by the tremors.

It's the very least we can do.

Switching to Decaf

Image via this site

I'm about 48 hours away from being a nervous, twitchy wreck like Tweek.

On Wednesday I might have to give a speech during a charity luncheon. Usually when I have to prepare for speaking in public I think up of a small list of bullet points, memorize them and try to speak naturally with them in mind.

Right now, however, I got nothing. Not a single thing.

The last time I had to give a speech was during a December luncheon for the same charity sponsoring the event on Wednesday- the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team. They are a little-known but fantastic organization that assists disabled youth in the U.S. and Ireland, and they were instrumental in helping pay my undergrad tuition as well as standing by me during my time off from grad school.

During the December luncheon at the apartment of the Irish Consulate General to New York I had memorized a humorous quote by James Joyce that I hoped would break the ice. Via a marvelous stroke of luck, he had another quote by Joyce hang in his living room and that was where I would speak. Hence, I had two great quotes by the same author to work with and it all worked out marvelously.

Unfortunately, at this time I'm not too sure what to speak about and I don't want to rely on luck to bail me out.

Also, I don't wish to repeat content from previous speeches. Hence, no more quotes or retelling of my travails with my physical disability. I won't repeat the discourse I made where I urged people not to see the disabled with pity but rather as individuals with the potential to improve society. No talk on how the song/Liverpool chant "You'll Never Walk Alone" applies to the charity.

Damn.

Actually, there are only two semi-ideas that are stirring around in my mind:

1. Linking my Latin American background to Ireland. With that option the only two things that I could link to could be the Battle of Boyaca where Irish troops fought alongside Simon Bolivar's independence forces or the music of Mexican brother-sister duo (by way of Dublin) Rodrigo y Gabriela.
   
2. Framing the speech around the recent completion of a U.N. treaty for people with disabilities. I believe during one of the working group sessions I attended the E.U. was represented by Ireland.

All I know is that I got to figure something out soon and commit it to memory. The last thing I can afford to do is pull the entire speech out of thin air or be too nervous and blank out.