Friday, September 14, 2007

why did the chicken climb the tree?

The chicken did it. That big, fat, brown hen did it.

There was a chicken in the branches of the tree right beside our Comm 3 classroom. I do not know how it got there, but it turned out to be one hell of a lucky break for me.

Today was slated to be the first round of our impromptu speeches for Communications 3. We would draw our topic from slips of paper, then we would be given 2 minutes to prepare a short speech about the topic we got, then we would be given another 2 minutes to present our speech.

I was very anxious at the beginning of the class. My classmates gave great speeches, and I started to worry about not doing as well as they did. My turn finally came after about thirty tense minutes. I drew my topic from the many slips of paper on the desk:

What are the three countries you really want to visit?

I took one long look at the paper then I went out of the room to prepare my speech. The chicken, America, Germany, and the Philippines; that was all I thought about for the next two minutes.

The bell rang, and I walked into the room. Pointing at the windows, I started my speech:

Look outside the windows. Everybody, what do you see?

And, as expected:

The chicken!

I spent those thirty tense minutes before my turn thinking of a way to integrate the chicken into my speech; whatever topic I got I resolved to use that chicken in my speech.

Mamaya na yung chicken! Look at the world outside, it's so big and beautiful. Now, look at the chicken. I want to be that chicken. I want to be able to go wherever I want. I want to travel all over the world. First, I want to go to America...

All my anxiety and stage fright evaporated during the first few seconds of my speech. Maybe it was because I really liked my topic. Maybe it was because I was wearing my favorite black polo. Maybe it was because my confidence was boosted by my well-received introduction. But I like to think that maybe it was because I was really inspired by that chicken.

I got a one.

Thank you, o magical and mysterious chicken.

No comments: