A wonderful free moment to hear contestants speak about the free things in life

WHILE adjudicating an English public speaking competition among secondary school students in my district in Perak last week, I was impressed by the participants when they delivered an impromptu speech on “The best things in life are free”.

The participants were given four minutes to formulate their thoughts and prepare their speech.

The time for delivery was not more than three minutes. This was not an easy task.

One or two barely spoke, while others could speak no more than two minutes. The majority were not only able to speak for three minutes, but spoke with confidence and conviction.

I was impressed with their maturity of thought, language proficiency and confidence.

The topic was dealt with in a variety of ways, depending on their interpretation of the topic.

They spoke about the air we breathed and the sunlight we basked in, the free gifts that we get when we make purchases during promotions and being free to make their own decisions.

They talked about their family and friends who add value to their lives. Even a smile was mentioned as a gift that cost nothing but could make people feel better.

The better ones spoke about life experiences that made you a better person, and memories of good and bad times, memories of our loved ones, though gone but not forgotten.

And, they added humour, which relieved the tense atmosphere of the competition.

All of these are free in our lives. Are we aware of these gifts? Do we appreciate them?

More often than not, we take our families for granted.

We don’t see the need to thank our parents for their love and support, sacrifices and the good things they provided for us during our growing years.

For example, we would rather send an SMS or WhatsApp birthday greeting, rather than call.

Try giving a surprise to your parents by driving or flying home on their birthday. What a difference that would make.

We don’t see the necessity of showing appreciation to our siblings who grew up with us.

We don’t see the need to apologise for our shortcomings.

We let our ego take the better of us.

We hardly value friendships and become fair weather friends.

Even the environment is not spared. Nature is tampered with to satisfy our greed and needs.

At our workplace, we find it hard to smile, although it costs nothing.

Greetings, if exchanged, are more of a formality than anything else. We are too preoccupied with work.

We are more concerned about position, product, quality, timelines, meetings, reports and performance.

It is difficult to show appreciation to colleagues and subordinates.

It was heart-warming to note that the present generation could speak so well on the given topic and so fondly about the positive things in our lives.

Never mind the fact that it may have been said in the context of a competition.

I was proud to be a part of this wonderful experience, where our students spoke brilliantly about the need to appreciate the good things in life.

Well done, boys and girls. It was a great experience, joy and gift for me. And it was free.

JAGINDER SINGH Batu Gajah, Perak