The Unintended Life
Maybe you’ve never made a speech to a crowd of people you don’t know. If you haven’t, I’m totally envious. You have taken the right path! You have probably added a year to your life expectancy. And most importantly, you have kept your self-respect.
I’m an hour or so away from giving a speech to an auditorium full of bibliophiles and library administrators. What I could possibly say to them regarding Libraries, I seriously have my doubts. The potential seems immense that I will leave here with an omelette on my face, a long bitter drive home with a vow to never again stand in front of a crowd hoping to provide … what? Inspiration? A peek into an aberrant mind? A tutorial on an Unintended, much less Unexamined, Life?
I feel like Don Quixote on roller skates. Course I can’t tell these literary folks I’ve never read Cervantes’ little book. I can’t mention I have no idea why I was invited to be their keynote speaker at the end of their day. And I certainly can’t admit that I don’t know why I accepted their invitation.
I guess occasionally I get up on my high pony and think I might actually have something to say. Hubris, we call it. I used to do this in Stanwoodopolis at the Kiwanis or the Rotary, go on the stump to pitch public art, cultural identity, community involvement. Ho ho. We ate breakfast, pledged allegiance to the flag, prayed, collected dues and then I would do my tap dance, invariably a yawn-inducing disaster. A slow learner, I apparently am. No news there.
It takes a lot of something, courage maybe, to get up in front of people, especially strangers, to do your song. Or read your poetry. Or show your paintings. What you’re doing is actually opening yourself up, revealing something about yourself, so if folks don’t like your art, we artists feel like they don’t like an important part of us personally. Probably why we cut off our ears occasionally like Van Gogh.
I’ve wanted to cut off an ear or two in my years as a struggling artist. Course, when you play a banjo, folks want to cut off their own ears. I don’t have any ears to spare so I decided to keep at it. What I think is important to remember is you have to keep doing what you love. You may not get the loudest applause, you may not get rich doing it, you may go thru times when you question what you’re doing. But if it means something to you, keep doing it. Success isn’t so much about talent, it’s about perseverance.
I know a lot of folks who just can’t take rejection. Nobody likes rejection, but I promise you, it’s part of the deal. I used to paper my wall with rejection notices for stories and poetry I’d sent in. I compete for glass projects all over the country and trust me, I lose most of them. But I didn’t give up because I loved doing what I do and I always hoped I’d figure out a way to do it. Not saying I didn’t think about quitting a few times. Mostly I’m glad I kept my ears. Another one of these speeches, all bets are off.
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Tags: Exposing Yourself, Speech Making for Dummies