The following was my “Ice Breaker” speech, presented to the GSU Toastmasters Club in Baton Rouge, La. on November 2, 2009.
The purpose of the “ice breaker” is to provide the new speaker with an easy topic for a speech. It is also a way for him to introduce himself to the club.
Most of you know that I was a Toastmaster for 10 years, so the main purpose of this speech is to once again get my feet wet, and to introduce myself to you.
I have had the wonderfully good fortune (or, depending on my mood at the moment, the horribly tragic misfortune) of having been born with an intelligent brain. (At least, that’s what the experts say.)
Consequently, I’ve always been a thinker – wondering how and why things worked.
I can recall an instance when I was around 4 or 5 years old when I was wondering how human legs worked. I envisioned, based upon the appearance of our buttocks, that each of our thigh-bones was connected to the edge of a saucer-like bone, and that THESE bones were connected to each other at their centers in a way that enabled them to pivot against each other. I declared this understanding to my mother who, as I recall, paused in mid-step and simply said “Yeah.”
I’ve maintained this child-like curiosity throughout my entire life.
Any long-time members of this club in attendance tonight may recall that I was once a fervent Libertarian zealot. I could never resist an opportunity, and Toastmasters provided me with many, to tell people not what I believed, but what I KNEW about how the government should work. That type of government was to be the absolute minimal. I was absolutely certain that private enterprise and private charity were far more capable than government action could ever be in solving our nation’s problems.
Fortunately, as I continued to ask questions, I realized that the world was far more complex than I’d thought and that I’d probably never fully understand it. As Henry David Thoreau noted, “The universe is wider than our views of it.”
Several things occurred in my life that helped me toward that conclusion.
The first thing that happened was that I came to what I then called my “Philosophical Conclusion.” I considered my mind settled on my political philosophy.
Interestingly, once I reached this “philosophical conclusion” I suddenly became able to listen to other people’s views.
Also, at about that time, I began what I then called my “mid-life adventure.” (I’ve only recently come to view it as a mid-life crisis since, after 13 years, I’m still DEALING with it! Or, at least, its consequences.)
To explain this, a little background is necessary.
My 8 years as a Navy nuclear reactor operator enabled me to get a good job at a nuclear power plant, where I worked for 2 years as a non-licensed operator and then got lucky and became an operations training instructor.
But after 11 years at the plant, and the onset of my “mid-life adventure,” I came to desire more out of life than just a safe job, and viewed the likelihood of my advancing up the corporate ladder with nauseating dread.
And so, I quit! At least I was prudent enough to wait until a general severance package, which I knew was coming, was offered, and then I took the money and ran off to Alexandria, La. where I did a radio talk show - part of my political crusade, for a year.
After my stint in show business, I spent the next 11 years doing various jobs on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I worked for a handyman doing lots of small construction and remodeling jobs. I worked in what many today would call a sweatshop, wiring interior casino signs.
And I also had the opportunity to work in what was absolutely the worst job I’ve ever had – as an air conditioning duct installer helper. My boss was a 22 year old kid who wouldn’t teach me anything but the minimum required, since he was afraid that I’d take his job away from him. (As though I wanted to do THAT for the rest of my life).
What I noticed about being among hard working people was that there was a sort of connection between them – a mutual understanding that they all shared the same struggles – a type of supportive brotherhood, so to speak.
This stood in stark contrast with the ego-based competitiveness of the “professional world,” and I found that I preferred being part of the “working class.” As I said back then and still say now, I’m glad to finally be a part of the human race.
It was easy for me to have such clear-cut, black and white views about the government and people when I was in a high-paying, protected job.
Getting out among the working class opened my eyes to a much larger world.
I discovered that the universe really is wider than our view of it, and that my particular view had been exceptionally narrow.
Looking back upon the days when I thought I had all the answers, I realized that the less a man knows, the easier it is for him to think he knows everything. And that certainly applied to me.
At about the age of 9, having already begun to read books, it occurred to me that the more I learned, the more I realized how much I don’t know.
Well, not too many years ago it occurred to me that I’d finally learned enough to realize that I really don’t know anything at all!
And I like how that feels!