My speech for theology class
Here you will find the speech that I have written for theo. The topic for this quarter was life, faith, or morality, but I decided to take life and morality and put them into one speech. Some people may already be familiar with the event described here.
A few months ago, we had a whole string of snow days one after the other. I remember one day … I think it was the day that we got off because it was too cold to come to school. Anyway, I was laying down in my bed watching TV. I had practically nothing to do that day, and as such, I did nothing. And it was everything I hoped it could be. Well, my channel surfing brought me over to ESPN-2 and there was a fishing show on. There is probably nothing more pointless or boring than a fishing show. You know, they have a film editor for those shows - the guy that has to decide what parts of the fishing trip were too boring to fit into the show - and a scriptwriter! “Oh, that’s a … line?” ‘Big one!’
But even though … it got me to thinking. Show of hands, how many fishers do we have in here? Good. Imagine this scene then. Say you’re going fishing with a couple friends of yours over at Cedar Beach. Fine, imagine Jones Beach if you’ve never been to Cedar. You stand at the end of the dock, looking out into the sea before you. Hundreds and hundreds of fish swim in the water. You cast a line out and then, soon enough, you begin to feel something tugging at the line. You begin to reel it in, but it gives a great fight. And then finally, you get it out of the water. It dangles in the air, squirming around, flapping around, trying to get free as it suffocates. You pull it to yourself, grab it, get fish scales all over your hand, rip the hook out of its mouth, and then toss it back into the water. But then you begin to wonder … how many times has that same fish been caught?
Allow me to get off this tangent now and bring you to the real point of my speech. Imagine this scene now. You’re going to the cafeteria to eat lunch with your friends. You’re at your table, and you look out into the sea of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors before you. There must be dozens of them going around, but one of them catches your eye … say, some overweight guy with weird hair, thick glasses, and a face full of pimples, and he’s passing right by you. And so, you say some kind of comment to him … something hurtful. He spins around and says something back. Then your friends get involved too. They start making fun of him as well, laughing at him because of the way he talks, or because there’s a ketchup stain on his shirt. And there’s no way that he can say anything back … the guy’s too scared. So finally he walks away and you and your friends wash your hands clean of this and go back to talking with each other, forgetting completely about the guy. Now then, how many times do you think that fish was caught?
How many times have you said something or done something hurtful to someone else? Something that you didn’t really think was hurtful at all? At least, that’s what your mind tells you. But you have no way to know what’s going on in the other person’s head, especially if you don’t know them. For all you know, the girl’s parents could have just gotten divorced and she’s trying to figure out what went wrong and whether they still love her, or maybe he just broke up with his girlfriend of six months after finding out that she was hooking up with someone else.
A few weeks ago, I was in one of the worst moods ever. I can’t remember exactly what happened. I think that I was having a fight with one of my friends because of some disagreement or another, or I had recently gotten a bunch of bad test grades back. I don’t remember what it was, but I just didn’t want to deal with anyone else at that time. I was sitting in the cafeteria, eating lunch with a few of my friends when suddenly, something hit me on my head. I looked around and didn’t see anything. Whatever it was that was thrown was on the floor … I picked it up. Some small chocolate candy. I shrugged it off and went back to eating. And then I felt it again, and so did one of my friends. I turned around and saw these four guys with plastic spoons, launching candy and laughing at us. Once again, I shrugged it off because I figured if I ignored it, they’d leave us alone. I had too much going through my head anyway and I didn’t want to compound it with anything else. But they didn’t stop. And they were targeting specifically my friends and me. So I looked back at them and gave them the finger - can’t blame me, can you? And still, it didn’t stop. I picked up a couple of the candies they threw at us and threw it back at them. Five minutes left in the period, and they’re still launching stuff at us. Another few hit me and I lost it. I picked up the stuff they were throwing and walked over to their table, pushing aside anyone who got in my way. I walked right up to them and they just stared at me. I threw the stuff in their faces, then took one piece and shoved it into one guy’s face. Right then, I just wanted to scream at them, “Do you even know who I am? Do you even know what I’m going through right now? Do you even know what stuff I have to put up with everyday? Why do you have to make things worse for me?” Then I left and walked back to my table. I don’t know if anyone said anything to me then, but at that point, I really didn’t care. The bell rang and I started walking out. Then the guy whose face I shoved the candy into came up to me. He was a mountain, and he’d probably kill me by just sitting on me. He started pushing me, threatening me, saying never to do that to him again. I refused to start fighting him, and one of his friends said that I was scared. Hell yes, I was scared. I wasn’t about to get my head ripped off and get suspended. Someone … a senior, I guess, got in between us and kept us from fighting. And then I walked away. After the incident, everything passed like a blur. I don’t even remember who saw me, who tried to comfort me, what became of whatever was pissing me off that day. All I do know is that there were thoughts going through my head. Stuff that I’m not proud of, that I don’t want to admit here in front of everyone.
Guys, this is what I’m saying. The topic of my speech is life and morality - or rather, other people’s lives and your own morality. Don’t go around making fun of people or giving them a hard time. God only knows how many other times they’ve been hooked by other fishers. What you’re doing is making them even more miserable. Think about this, guys. The next time you have the urge to make fun of someone, or give them a hard time, or do anything harmful to them … think about them, and how they’re feeling, and how they’ll feel after you throw them back into the sea. You know, fish bleed from the wounds they get from getting hooked.
A few months ago, we had a whole string of snow days one after the other. I remember one day … I think it was the day that we got off because it was too cold to come to school. Anyway, I was laying down in my bed watching TV. I had practically nothing to do that day, and as such, I did nothing. And it was everything I hoped it could be. Well, my channel surfing brought me over to ESPN-2 and there was a fishing show on. There is probably nothing more pointless or boring than a fishing show. You know, they have a film editor for those shows - the guy that has to decide what parts of the fishing trip were too boring to fit into the show - and a scriptwriter! “Oh, that’s a … line?” ‘Big one!’
But even though … it got me to thinking. Show of hands, how many fishers do we have in here? Good. Imagine this scene then. Say you’re going fishing with a couple friends of yours over at Cedar Beach. Fine, imagine Jones Beach if you’ve never been to Cedar. You stand at the end of the dock, looking out into the sea before you. Hundreds and hundreds of fish swim in the water. You cast a line out and then, soon enough, you begin to feel something tugging at the line. You begin to reel it in, but it gives a great fight. And then finally, you get it out of the water. It dangles in the air, squirming around, flapping around, trying to get free as it suffocates. You pull it to yourself, grab it, get fish scales all over your hand, rip the hook out of its mouth, and then toss it back into the water. But then you begin to wonder … how many times has that same fish been caught?
Allow me to get off this tangent now and bring you to the real point of my speech. Imagine this scene now. You’re going to the cafeteria to eat lunch with your friends. You’re at your table, and you look out into the sea of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors before you. There must be dozens of them going around, but one of them catches your eye … say, some overweight guy with weird hair, thick glasses, and a face full of pimples, and he’s passing right by you. And so, you say some kind of comment to him … something hurtful. He spins around and says something back. Then your friends get involved too. They start making fun of him as well, laughing at him because of the way he talks, or because there’s a ketchup stain on his shirt. And there’s no way that he can say anything back … the guy’s too scared. So finally he walks away and you and your friends wash your hands clean of this and go back to talking with each other, forgetting completely about the guy. Now then, how many times do you think that fish was caught?
How many times have you said something or done something hurtful to someone else? Something that you didn’t really think was hurtful at all? At least, that’s what your mind tells you. But you have no way to know what’s going on in the other person’s head, especially if you don’t know them. For all you know, the girl’s parents could have just gotten divorced and she’s trying to figure out what went wrong and whether they still love her, or maybe he just broke up with his girlfriend of six months after finding out that she was hooking up with someone else.
A few weeks ago, I was in one of the worst moods ever. I can’t remember exactly what happened. I think that I was having a fight with one of my friends because of some disagreement or another, or I had recently gotten a bunch of bad test grades back. I don’t remember what it was, but I just didn’t want to deal with anyone else at that time. I was sitting in the cafeteria, eating lunch with a few of my friends when suddenly, something hit me on my head. I looked around and didn’t see anything. Whatever it was that was thrown was on the floor … I picked it up. Some small chocolate candy. I shrugged it off and went back to eating. And then I felt it again, and so did one of my friends. I turned around and saw these four guys with plastic spoons, launching candy and laughing at us. Once again, I shrugged it off because I figured if I ignored it, they’d leave us alone. I had too much going through my head anyway and I didn’t want to compound it with anything else. But they didn’t stop. And they were targeting specifically my friends and me. So I looked back at them and gave them the finger - can’t blame me, can you? And still, it didn’t stop. I picked up a couple of the candies they threw at us and threw it back at them. Five minutes left in the period, and they’re still launching stuff at us. Another few hit me and I lost it. I picked up the stuff they were throwing and walked over to their table, pushing aside anyone who got in my way. I walked right up to them and they just stared at me. I threw the stuff in their faces, then took one piece and shoved it into one guy’s face. Right then, I just wanted to scream at them, “Do you even know who I am? Do you even know what I’m going through right now? Do you even know what stuff I have to put up with everyday? Why do you have to make things worse for me?” Then I left and walked back to my table. I don’t know if anyone said anything to me then, but at that point, I really didn’t care. The bell rang and I started walking out. Then the guy whose face I shoved the candy into came up to me. He was a mountain, and he’d probably kill me by just sitting on me. He started pushing me, threatening me, saying never to do that to him again. I refused to start fighting him, and one of his friends said that I was scared. Hell yes, I was scared. I wasn’t about to get my head ripped off and get suspended. Someone … a senior, I guess, got in between us and kept us from fighting. And then I walked away. After the incident, everything passed like a blur. I don’t even remember who saw me, who tried to comfort me, what became of whatever was pissing me off that day. All I do know is that there were thoughts going through my head. Stuff that I’m not proud of, that I don’t want to admit here in front of everyone.
Guys, this is what I’m saying. The topic of my speech is life and morality - or rather, other people’s lives and your own morality. Don’t go around making fun of people or giving them a hard time. God only knows how many other times they’ve been hooked by other fishers. What you’re doing is making them even more miserable. Think about this, guys. The next time you have the urge to make fun of someone, or give them a hard time, or do anything harmful to them … think about them, and how they’re feeling, and how they’ll feel after you throw them back into the sea. You know, fish bleed from the wounds they get from getting hooked.