[Toastmasters]20211017- Speech : The Giving Tree draws a boundary of giving

Today is the regular Sunday morning meeting of Toastmasters, which is held every two weeks. This time, I am a speaker. However, because I was assigned a critical assignment, I didn't have time to rewrite the speech, so I used The Giving Tree I talked about before, and changed it a little.

Taiwan translated this children's book into "Love Tree".

The general idea is that a tree and a little boy are good friends, and the little boy goes to the tree every day to play, eat her apples, and swing on her branches, and they are happy every day.

But as time passed, the little boy grew up and started to need other things, like money, house, boat...etc, and the tree always fulfilled his wish.

So the little boy sold her apples to make money, cut down her branches to build a house, and finally the little boy cut down the trunk and made a boat to travel.

At the end of the story, the little boy was old, he went back to the tree, and said to her: I feel very tired.

The tree said to him: Come on, child, sit on my old tree trunk, it is a good place to rest.

Both the tree and the little boy feel very happy

But is it really so?

In fact, when I read this book for the first time, I brought myself into the role of the tree. I thought, maybe the mother's mentality is like this, and she will think about leaving the best for her children, even if she is injured, Until the end there is nothing left to give.

Later, because I wanted to write a speech, I checked some English experiences on the Internet. Although the topic of the speech was still using "The Giving Tree", whether it can be balanced from the parent-child relationship to the giving and giving between people.

This week, I went through the manuscript again and practiced a few more times, but it was not until this morning that I could finish the five-minute lecture without reading the manuscript.

It's just that in the actual speech, there are still many cases of stuttering and forgetting words. This can only be practiced more, and the tongue will pronounce it naturally.

Today's meeting ended successfully, and another practice was completed. It was also a fulfilling Sunday morning.

The following is the full text of the speech, and there may be a third version after that. I hope it will become more and more smooth. When I come to the stage next time, I can stand on the stage with confidence and speak the whole story without forgetting the words!

The Giving Tree

Good morning Toastmaster fellow members.

The giving tree is a children's book by Shel Silverstein, he made in 1964.

Do you ever read this book?

The giving tree is about relationship between a boy and a tree.

It starts off with the line once there was a tree and she loved a little boy.

Every day the boy would come to the tree eat her apples and sweat her branches and this made the tree very happy.

But the time passed by the boy grew older and he started asking for more stuff like money, a house a boat can anyone actually imagine talking to the tree, and the tree always try to satisfy his wishes.

The boy makes money by selling apples, he makes a house using her branches, he gets to travel because he used the tree's trunk as boat.

In the end of the story, the little boy is old and he talked with the tree: I am tired.

The tree said: come boy, sit down the old stump is good for sitting and resting.

The boy did and the tree was very happy.

The story is end, the boy and the tree are happy, is it true?

Please think this question and hold the answer.

If you ask parents to think of children's book about generosity, “The Giving Tree” is usually the first one they can provide. But here's the thing: It is not really about generosity, it's a book about self-sacrifice, and those are two very difference things.

The tree's act of sacrifice seems noble, like the parent gives to a child, but if you assume the story is about generosity, it's easy to learn wrong lesson.

That is OK for a child to take selfishly and adults should give until it hurts- and keep giving until they have nothing to offer.

Self-sacrifice is not sustainable, and it isn't healthy either. Research shows that people care about others and neglect themselves are more likely to become anxious and depressed. They are also less effective.

Generosity is not about sacrificing yourself for others, it's about helping others without bothering yourself. It's not about giving to takers, it is giving in ways that nurture more givers. It's not about dripping everything any time to someone need you, it is priority your needs along with theirs.

The book is not only for parent and child, the most important it's teach us that in person to person interaction, no matter what the relationship, you can't just give and take completely.

So, how can we do?

1. Measure your own time and ability to give.

2'. When we receive help, we must keep it in mind and give kind feedback.

Just like we are in Toastmasters club, we pay attention and time here, and also learn from each other.

So that this love can continue, this is the meaning of giving.

Thank you, Toastmasters of the day.