Do You Have Enough Integrity?

             I'm going to start this first with a question, "Do you have integrity to support your blockmates and friends during their speech in integrity? " That is not my point, really. A public speaking competition was held last Wednesday, on the 20th of April. 


            Before the competition, six participants from each blocks were chosen by the public speaking professors. This year's event theme is "Integrity has no need of rules." It is a quote by Albert Camus which explains that if you have enough integrity, you have no worries with regard to the artificial rules created by the society rather, you will always live up to your own set of internal rules. Rules are there to serve as a guide.

              You might be thinking that I'm saying too much about integrity. Well, I'm one of the participants for the public speaking competition, that's why. To be honest, I'm not expecting that I'll be chosen by Sir Nomer to be one of the speakers, but it has already happened. The time just flew by too fast, and it was already late when I realized that the competition is near, because we are always bombarded with school works. We're too busy on our plates on engineering drawing, written reports in technical writing, speech choir in grammar communication, exams in differential calculus, and many other. 

               Let's jump to the day of competition. Actually, I'm planning not to attend the competition because I know that I am going to lose, but I attended anyway for the sake of my grades in public speaking 1 and 2. It was fun though seeing other participants who look nervous just like me. That way, I can feel that I'm not the only one who's feeling as if you're going to faint. My heart is also beating too fast as the program is about to start. I can feel it really because it is the only thing that I can feel, nervousness. My palms were also sweating by that time. As our names were announced, I became even more nervous when Ms. Nina announced that Sir Deeno and Ms. Agaton were one of the judges assigned to our room. By that time, I thought that I'm going to get a heart attack especially because of Ms. Agaton. She always asks me in class even though I have just seated for about one minute, maybe because I'm always late in her class. Anyway, I'm used to it, that's why I'm not that happy nowadays in her class because she's not calling my name as often as she did before. It's just a proof that not all will stay the same. By the time I entered the room, I'm the only one they're waiting for. It was very quiet at that time. Also, I'm the only engineering student, everyone else are ABMA students, so I took the seat closest to the one of the walls of the room. One by one, the other participants present their speeches. They were all awesome, all of them are fluent in speaking in English, unlike me. I'm the fourth to speak. The host already called out to my name, she's actually at me in the eye while she was announcing my name, and that made me feel a little bit more nervous. And there I am, standing in front of the three judges and the other participants. When I started speaking, I tend to forgot the words that I'm going to say next, so I just do an adlib just to prevent prolongation and dull moments. I don't think it's that effective, because I tend to stutter. But as I went through my speech, I felt even more comfortable in speaking. It was not like I'm saying the words I've memorized some days before, it was like I'm communicating with the audiences withou them replying. But then, all must come to an end. I'm already stating the conclusion part of my speech. The thing is that, the situation that I have given was really intended for Ms. Agaton because in the story. I don't have enough money to pay for the jeepney driver that's why I decided to just even though I would be late for my first class. For your information, Ms. Agaton's class is always my first class and I'm always late for her class. Laughter and some happy thoughts rushed into my brain that time that's why I weren't able to recall what I'm going to say next. It took me about 15 seconds before I was able to recall it. I was not embarassed that time because I knew that it would happen because I'm always easily distracted.

                At least, I felt relieved after the delivery of speeches. I think I don't want to feel that way again. But I do not regret presenting my speech because it will be a part of my unforgettable experiences. The good thing is that, I weren't able to make it to the finals. It may be not god for you, but it was for me. I don't want to present my speech again. Fortunately, Naps made it to the finals. Unfortunately, he didn't won either. It is the experience that really made me happen during the event. And that is the most important thing.