TM Speech: Stand My Ground and Let Them Pass

“Son, Son where are you?” asked my mother.

“I’m here mom”, I replied. I was 8 years old then.

“Where” she asked again?

“Sitting on the tree mom”, I said.

Mr. Contest Chair, fellow Toastmasters and dear guests, let me tell you the story of the day I fell from a tree. It was a big fat tree in front of our house. Hun, name, you ask? Well, I have no idea and neither did I try to find out because a wise man once said, the name comes in between you and your tree.

So there I was on that sunny summer evening, sitting at the top of the tree, playing with the leaves with the wind in my hair. I saw my mother walking towards the porch calling me from a distance as she turned into a something that can only be called as the opposite of Lata Mangeshkar.

 “Where are…?! Come down right now or I tell you father.”

“Mom, relax! I’m fine.”

Play time was over. I started climbing down. I had not even crossed the halfway mark and I was mesmerized the scintillating smells of her beautiful hair and I could feel my heart beating faster and faster as she walked passed under me! The love of my life, Ritika!

Ritika used to live two houses next to mine. We were of same age, in the same school AND in the same class BUT not in the same section. For three years I was in A, she was in C. And this year when the time came to change sections, that devil woman the class teacher, she changed everyone’s but we were still separate.

And there she was, my beautiful, my Juliet; walking down the road. My Juliet, your Romeo is here playing on this tree! My Ju…

AAAaaaaahhhhhh… Boom!

“How many times do I have to tell you not to climb the tree? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine Mom!”

Ladies and gentlemen, I learnt a painful but a very important lesson that day. Never mix your love and your tree.

Yes, that tree was my best friend! There was never a day I hadn’t climbed on him and there was never a day my mother hadn’t turned into a Lata Mangeshkar’s opposite.

And slowly summer went away and like a thud on the ground came the autumn. When I heard the news that in a few months Ritika was going to leave the school, leave the house even leave the city. Oh my God! The love of my life shattered like the glass of a broken window. In despair, I climbed up on my friend. As I reached the top I saw the tree was also shedding its leaves. I thought, “Ritika? Did he also?” “Oh no. He’s a tree. How can he?” “Could he?”

I hugged him and told him not to worry. She won’t leave us like that. She loves us too.

But she left. It was winter. And I was heart-broken.

And I went to my friend to take refuge and I saw him also standing frozen like an eskimo with his branches dangling from his arms, floating like pendulums. He looked so sad and creepy! Heartbroken nonetheless…

It was then that I decided to take the hard path. I decided to rip the bandage, throw the wound away and feel the lightness within.

I went to my friend and hugged him and told him not to worry. She has left us to find a better place. Maybe we too will.

And we did!

In a short while spring came in both our lives. With new leaves and the wind all around, my friend was flourishing and so was I. I had found Tina!!! We were in the same school, in the same class and in the same section! My heart was swollen with joy!!

And this year things went perfect for me and I was dancing with euphoria, but I saw that my friend was still happy in the summer, sad in the autumn, and cold and hard in the winter. My life was all ok. So was he not my true friend after all?

Then I realized it was not the tree that was changing, it was my way of looking at him. l realized he never moved, never tried to stop whatever was happening. He was just there, standing his ground and letting whatever life bestowed upon him. And I saw how similar his and my lives were.

My springs, summers, autumns, and winters also come and go but if I’m his true friend, I too will stand my ground and let them pass. I too will get tickled by gentle morning breeze, roughened by hot summer winds and slapped by chilly winter frost. But if I’m his true friend, I too will stand my ground and let them pass.