Page 22 - Voices Decemper 2015

Tell Me A Story

You Can’t See Time
by Eric Winger, ACS, ALB

You can’t see time. tried a timer role, then grammarian, and
finally she worked up the courage to be
Watching the clock on the wall tick away, Toastmaster.
you might think that you are seeing time
but you are not. You can’t see time. You can’t Then the time came to give another speech.
taste tme. You can’t even touch time. The She worked hard. She improved. She deliv-
clock shows us that time is working but we ered. No tears. Four invisible minutes ticked
can’t see it. Time is invisible. by. The audience cheered. She walked off
the stage, head held high with pride. And
In Toastmasters we like to talk about time. probably a little relief.
Being on time. Ending on time. Staying
within time. If you only saw that second speech, you
wouldn’t have seen the improvement. All
We also like to talk about improvement. you would have seen was a nervous little
Sure, we talk about the growth. We talk girl delivering a speech.
about getting better. But we really can’t
see their improvement, because when we Time will tell where the little girl goes in
see a speaker present, we only see them as life. Yet someday, I suspect that people will
they are that day. Improvement, like time, look up to her on a big stage, spellbound
is invisible. as her words make them forget the clock
ticking on the wall. They will assume she
As a coach at Future Stars Toastmasters, a was always that good. They will see neither
youth gavel club in Beaverton, I watch kids improvement nor time.
give speeches every week. One particular
speaker stood out. A little girl who gave her They will only see a confident young lady,
very first speech. my daughter, who’s time has come.

It started well. She had her opening memo- Eric Winger joined Toastmasters in July
rized. She started to warm up. 2009. He is a member of Silicon Forest and
Feedbackers. He is also the head coach for
Then, time stopped. She froze. Her lips Future Stars, a youth gavel club located in
trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes like Beaverton, Oregon.
rain drops hanging off an eavespout. Biting
her lip, she ran off the stage and put her
head in her hands, trying not to let all the
other kids see her shame.

At moments like this, it’s all a coach can do
to keep his own tears from falling. I gave
her a consolation hug and a little encour-
agement but there was little else I could do.
She wanted to quit.

Fortunately, the little girl agreed to come
back the following week. Eventually, she

22 Volume 2 Issue 5 - DECEMBER 2015