Kermit the Frog

I gave a speech this morning in my Toastmaster Pro Club. I was working on the Advance Communication Manual, Special Occasion Speech, Project #2, Speaking in Praise. I had been trying to do this project for a while, but I always quit at the last minute and worked on other project instead. Finally, I have no other option because that is my last project for that manual. I had the idea of praising Frederick W. Taylor, the father of IE, but after a long deliberation, I decided against it. I ended up giving the following speech:

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Introduction for the speaker:
Welcome to the Unveiling Event of Kermit the Frog Statue in the Academy of Puppetry. I presume that all of us here are very familiar with Kermit the Frog and had our lives touched by Kermit one time or another. On this very special occasion, I have the honor to introduce our keynote speaker today, FroggyLittle. She is a long time puppetry patron and a renowned historian in the art of puppetry. She completed a biography of Kermit the Frog recently, to commemorate his 50th Birthday. Please help me welcome FroggyLittle.

The speech:
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” I am not sure if Kermit was born great or has greatness thrust upon him, but I know that he achieved greatness. Kermit is not afraid of being great, he wants to be great, he believes in his ability and tries to achieve as much as he could, as an amphibian.

As most of us here know, Kermit has a very humble origin. He was born in the swamp, along with 3,625 brothers and sisters when he was a tadpole. Most of the siblings did not make it through their tadpole-hood. Kermit was the first of his siblings to leave the swamp and began to interact with humans. After discovering his stage talent, Kermit went out to pursue his career in show business. Despite his humble origin, Kermit proved that anyone can be successful and anyone can make a difference.

Kermit’s main source of inspiration that encourages him to achieve greatness is Miss Piggy. The interactions between Kermit and Miss Piggy on screen often convinced us that Miss Piggy is relentlessly pursuing Kermit, the truth is, Kermit returns the same affection to Miss Piggy, but in a very different way. In a way that only amphibians would understand, which I don’t. Through several conversations with Kermit while writing his biography, Kermit admitted that he has a platonic relationship with Miss Piggy but he chose to keep the relationship a secret to protect Miss Piggy and prevent her from being a target of paparazzi. Even though Miss Piggy is often portrayed as very bossy on screen, she is bossy off screen as well and THAT is the source of inspiration for Kermit.

As a very talented entertainer, Kermit could have won an Academy Award, if it weren’t for the discrimination in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, there is another aspect of Kermit that is often been overlooked by many people: Kermit’s ability to be a leader and to manage a production company. Kermit is extra-ordinary in “getting a bunch of crazies to actually get the job done.” His ability to manage Gonzo the Great, crazy Animal, Fozzie bear, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, keeping the rather talentless Scooter out of any stage show and at the same time, making sure that Scooter’s rich uncle continues to let them use the theater. His leadership skill and management ability is beyond what we could imagine today.

Kermit’s positive attitude in life is evident in his song “Bein’ Green”. “It’s not easy being green, when green blends in with so many ordinary things.” However, Kermit accepts and embrace his greenness. “It’s beautiful! And it’s what I want to be….” Today, when we see a lot of people instead of embracing their identity, they try so hard to erase their identity, trying to be something that they are not. We have so much to learn from Kermit, for accepting and embracing our own identity.

Without Kermit, it is impossible to have the Muppets working half a century ago, and keep the Muppet Show running, 53 years after its inception. We owe this to Kermit, for his keen eye for talents, ability and willingness to manage those great artists with huge personalities. We owe Kermit for his willingness to take the risk of being shut down, his persistent and determination to keep the show running amid the constant criticism and booing from the two old, grumpy Statler and Waldorf.

Kermit the Frog’s place in history is indisputable. In 1981, Columbia University developed a file transfer and management protocol for computer network and the protocol is named after Kermit the Frog. Kermit is the only amphibian to have the honor of addressing the Oxford Union Society, a prestigious debating society in Oxford UK. A town in Texas is named after Kermit the Frog. A statue of Kermit was erected on the University of Maryland campus in 2003.

And today, we are here to unveil another statue of Kermit the Frog, erected on the campus of the Academy of Puppetry. Remember that anyone could be successful regardless of their origin; remember that everyone should accept and embrace their own identity; remember that who you are does not define you, it is what you did that define you and remember that persistency and determination is the key to success, as Kermit the Frog had proved to us, and will continue to do so.

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Of course most of the thing mentioned in this speech are not true, its more of a tall tale. I enjoy this speech very very much, the writing and delivering of it. This is one of the very few times that I really like the speech that I wrote and I decided to share it here. Enjoy!

Cat's Meow

I was in the kitchen busy with my cooking. Lupercia was busy in the kitchen as well, busy being a busy body. She walked around me hoping to sniff the food that I was preparing. Just sniffing, she never eat them anyway.

My kitchen is small and I need to turn around pretty frequently. On one of my turn, I felt something furry underneath two of my right toes and I heard a loud MEOW. Apparently, the furry thing is Lupe's paw. She sprinted away from me and hid underneath a chair in the kitchen. I walked over to her trying to comfort her. Seeing that I was walking towards her, she meowed at me, quite pissed off, as if shouting "YOU IDIOT!!". When I got closer, she meowed again, and again, and again. All four meows were pretty stern.

Finally, I bent down, picked her up and brought her to the couch. I set her down on the arm rest and petted her, as if apologizing to her. She calmed down. Then she meowed at me again, but this time was softer, as if she was whining and complaing "It's painful, you know!"

All this time, Godofredo was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching the whole episode of reality sh0w.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Dr. LAB!!

... ...

I remember back in Standard 1, we were in the same class. Your dad always came to visit you during the recess. One afternoon, you were not feeling well and was throwing a tantrum. Your dad came to visit you, you did not want to get back into the classroom. You dad spanked you on your leg with his hand, you shut up, still very upset but you came back into the class.

You were very talkative back in primary school. Teachers reprimanded you for talking too much, too frequent. Some teachers concluded that you were the only child in your family and that's probably why you talk a lot in class because you don't have anybody in your age group to talk to at home. I am very sorry for your parents, for their loss.

One year in primary school, probably in Standard 3, I can't recall exactly which year was that, for we were in the same class for 6 years. We were back from a school break, you learnt some 'new' hand gestures, some 'dirty' hand gestures from some of your cousins during the break. You were so excited and wanted to show us, yet the conservative school environment back then compelled you from sharing with us. Finally, after a day of internal struggles and several of us constant pestering and reassuring you that we won't tell the teacher, you showed us the hand gestures.

When we were in Standard 5 & 6, we got into frequent arguments and quarelling, for I am very opinionated, you were no different and we both will not back down for anything. Things got worse when the teacher assigned me to sit in front of YC, where you sat next to him. Then something funny happened. I am a very observant person and I have a knack to 'smell' that something was 'fishy'. I found out that both you and YC were attracted to her and I can't help but to poke fun on both of you. You and YC were best friend back then, and I did not realize that it was hard and it took a lot of courage for you to back down from the (puppy) love triangle. I know, that was childish, but back then, we were all very childish.

After Standard 6, during the school break, we were enrolled in Keat Hwa Private Secondary School for a tuition class to prepare us for secondary school. For some reasons, even though we argued a lot in Standard 5 & 6, we decided to sit together, as we were in Standard 6. CH and I sat together, YC and you together and I was in front of you. I still remember that I turned around frequently to stare at you, because you won't stop kicking my chair. That was the last time that I was in the same class with you. We were never in the same class all through secondary school.

It was a shock for me when I found out about your accident. For a second, I thought that it was an April Fool prank, but I realized that it can't be. Your life had just started and this had to happen. Rest in peace, my dear friend, for there is nothing else in this world that you should be bothered with ... rest in peace.