Three Choices – self-stagnation; self-destruction; self-improvement -- insight from my Speech Class

For my final in speech class, I have my students prepare and deliver a two minute speech.  It is an easy, short assignment.  I’m just checking to see if they’ve learned the basics – how to introduce a speech, how to have a clear thesis, how to have clear, main points in parallel form.  I give them a list of topics to choose from, and they all finish this sentence:  “I encourage you to____.”

Frequently, I take one of the left-over topics, and present a two minute speech of my own.  My favorite is:  “I encourage you to develop a life-long travel plan,” closely followed by “I encourage you to be a life-long reader.”  Today, I presented a speech on”  “I encourage you to always aim at self-improvement.”  I boiled it down to three life choices:

Choice one:  You can succumb to self-stagnation (you stay the same, and go nowhere)

Choice Two:  You can be overcome by self-destruction (you actually go backward, and get worse)

Choose Three:  You can aim for self-improvement (you can actually get better, in a multitude of ways, over and over again)

I think these are three pretty clear choices.  And the best one, to constantly and consistently aim at self-improvement, is a tough assignment.

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