Today I delivered my second speech in GTMC (Gurgaon Toastmaster Club)
Below are it excerpts (with one image inserted for clarity)
Mr. Toastmaster,
fellow members and dear guests.
The topic of my speech
is perceptions and interpretations.
I'll start with a
story.
The story is about some
blind men who went to see an elephant for the first time.
First man touched the
leg of elephant and said to other, Listen this animal is like a PILLAR.
Second man touched the
tusk and said to others. Are you mad? It’s smooth, round and sharp like a
SPEAR.
Third got the trunk in
his hand and said! Hey this animal is actually a snake
Fourth lay his hands
on tail and said. "What are you saying this animal is like a rope?
Though written more
than two thousand years ago, this story hold important insights for all of us
in terms of interpretations different people draw.
For me the story
indicates that every man was telling the truth, it was his truth and so
different from truth of other five people.
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In the story, those men make their impressions based on
sense of touching, but how did we make our impressions?
Broadly there are four
bases on which people make their interpretations-
1)
Personal background and upbringing –
The circumstances in which we grew up mould our attitude and leaves deep lasting
impressions on our thinking and shapes our character
2)
Inspirations – All of us tend to
make role-models at various stages of our life especially at a tender age,
Later on these impressions makes us partisan.
3) Belief systems – All cultures develop a system of values that are
applied to meet a culture's needs. Our understanding of the values of a culture
and our acceptance or rejection of those values is our belief system
4)
Ego – A person’s ego is his
perception of oneself. It’s our sense of self esteem and we defend this sense
of self importance.
And how these interpretations affect
us?
All of us draw
interpretations based on our knowledge and experiences but in reality how
tolerant are we when our view is radically difference from the other person?
On micro level. In offices, in homes and with friends , the difference
of opinion affects our relationships, our work performances and our mental
peace on the whole.
At macro level, we as a society on the whole are getting more and more intolerant
day by day. We just don’t respect the right of other person to differ in
opinion from us.
We are quick to brand
anything which doesn’t agree with our beliefs as blasphemous and unmoral.
We ban their works,
burn their effigies, force them into exiles and in many extreme cases they may
have to lose their lives.
So the big question is? What can me as an individual do?
One of the common mistakes
is to reach outward for solutions whereas we have to reach inwards for it.
Understanding on what
biases our interpretations are based about and tackling the past demons.
If we would remain
positive in our outlook only then we can understand others.
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I’ll conclude with another short story.
It’s a story about two
brothers whose father was bitter and cruel; an alcoholic and a drug addict who
almost kills himself several times. Today he serves life sentence in prison.
One of the brothers
grew up to be just like dad. A drug addict who lives by stealing and
threatening others until him, too, was put in prison just like his father.
His brother however is
different story, a man who’s raising three kids, is financially stable, enjoys
his marriage and appears to be truly happy.
Both were asked
privately, unbeknownst to the other “Why have you life turned out this way.
Surprisingly they both
provided the exact same answer.
Would you like to know
what the answer was, it’s “WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE BECOME, HAVING GROWN UP WITH
A FATHER LIKE THAT.
The circumstances may not be in our control but what we make
of them is definitely in our hands.
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