Public Speaking Skills: A Toastmasters Perspective.

Public speaking is an art. Like any other art it takes practise practise practise in order to become perfect. But that is a simplistic view. Public speaking or any kind of talking be it a speech, lecture or a presentation, a speaker in any context must bear in mind certain basic skills. A public speaker must be aware of six fundamental skills in order to deliver any kind of speech, any kind of presentations, interviews or talks. 

Excellence in public speaking rests on the pillars of;

1. Vocal variety- use in a context

2. Body language

3. Use of floor space

4. Knowledge of the speech content- the subject matter

5. Eye contact

6. The pause

Regardless of whether you are addressing an audience at a conference , a speech contest, giving a presentation about a product or an exhibition, a talk about a revolutionary cure for a disease, if you are presenting a program on TV or reading the news, you  must be skilled in these five essential skills.

Vocal variety is using different intonations of your voice. Vocal variety makes for a lively speech or talk. It can be used to show emphasis, humour, anger, passion, and various other emotions. it all depends on the context. If  the speech is to be delivered by a leader of a nation about an important policy. Depending on what that policy is, its possible popularity or unpopularity and how the public will react, will require particular kinds of vocal variety.

Body language is the use of gestures to emphasise points, to indicate things to be demonstrated or shown on stage. Depending on the context body language demonstrates the importance, humour or nature of the speech or talk. It can assuage, calm, warn , inspire or even threaten. 

Floor space must be fully utilised. Movement by the speaker captures the attention of the audience. Use of floor space is combined with vocal variety and body language in order to engage the audience. Use of floor space can be a necessity when PowerPoint slides or any form of demonstration is required. Movement shows dynamism.

The speaker must have a through grasp of the speech or any talk that he or she is giving. Lapses in memory can occur if one does not understand the content being delivered. It is vital in interactive talks where the audience will ask questions or is expected to so to have a thorough grasp of the content being delivered irrespective of it being a speech or a lecture. it demonstrates confidence which emerges from the way the speech content is delivered.

Eye contact is very important as it shows that the speaker is engaging with the audience. It helps to keep the attention of the listener who knows that the speaker is looking at him or her.It also shows that the speaker is interested in the audience and is talking to them.

The pause is a short interval in a speech or talk or lecture. When the speaker stops talking for a minute, the audience will want to know what else the speaker is going to say. It is a very powerful tool. If you used well it can elicit the attention of the audience. When used effectively and in combination with body language, vocal variety, eye contact, use of floor space, the speaker or lecturer can make his or her points well. 

In all, effective speaking to an audience of any kind requires all the five sub-skills and knowledge of speech or lecture content.

  

 Links:

1. Toastmasters International : https://www.toastmasters.org/

Toastmasters and the Pathways Learning Program: What is its intrinsic value?

Public speaking is an art. Leadership is an art. The best way to learn public speaking and leadership skills is with Toastmasters International. Perfection in public speaking comes from continual practise in the midst of fellow members. Leadership skills are perfected from continual performance of leadership tasks. 

Toastmasters International was set up in Santa Ana, California, USA in 1924. It was envisaged as a platform to learn public speaking skills. Since then its educational system has grown and developed into an eclectic system of learning with specialisations tailored to suit professional needs. Originally the skills sets were taught in a single linear program all enveloped in each title a Toastmaster earns. You started as a TM or Toastmaster. Then you moved on from CC or Competent Communicator right up to DTM or Distinguished Toastmaster. At each level or stage there was one project speech. But since 2018, this has all changed.

  

In 2018 Toastmasters International created a new learning program called Pathways. The learning program caters for specific needs. The learning program has ten modules to choose from. Each learning program has a series of speeches which constitute a project. Each project must be completed successfully and verified by the club. Then it must be confirmed by Toastmasters International. It is a serious matter as verification can be made by an employer about what skills set a Toastmaster has acquired.

Look at the diagram below;

Pathways

Each learning path has its own set of individualised projects. Each path has five levels. The first three levels are the same for whichever path one chooses. The remaining two are specific to each path. All learning materials are made available on-line.

Now what does this mean to you the working person or student? It means that you can choose a path that meets a specific need that you have. You may want to know about how to present. Presentation skills are required in many professions. I am a teacher,tutor and lecturer. I have to present classes where I have to stand in front of an audience of people whose ages range from 8 to 80. Imagine that? Coaching and persuading are skills educators need. A friend and fellow Toastmaster is a training manager with a pharmaceutical company. He finds the coaching path to be useful in making him a better coach. Another friend and fellow Toastmaster was a Chartered Accountant and a corporate trainer and is still a trainer as well as a speaker. He found the leadership and coaching paths to be useful. Students will certainly do well by choosing the presentation mastery and dynamic visionary paths.

Below are useful links for you:

Links:

1. Toastmasters International : https://www.toastmasters.org/

2. Toastmasters International - Pathways: https://www.toastmasters.org/pathways-overview

3. Toastmasters International magazine: https://www.toastmasters.org/Magazine/listing/archive/all

4. Toastmasters International - find a club: https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

 5.Toastmasters International Pathways: file: https://www.toastmasters.org/Education/Pathways/Volunteers/Ambassadors/~/media/0984DE5D6A7C4E2D906B77B8D762AAE6.ashx 

6.https://www.facebook.com/mmkltm1/

SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Is it possible?

SETI or Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a US based organisation set up on 20 November 1984 in the state of California, USA. The mission that SETI set out to do was to hunt for intelligent extraterrestrial life on other planets. SETI is made up of respectable and learned scientists. Its work is a serious one. They use sophisticated technologies to search, detect and contact any alien life in the universe. SETI's work must not be confused with the theories of self-styled "know a lot" alien UFO experts whose antics are available on TV shows like 'Ancient Aliens'. These people take their inspiration from people like the Swiss, Erich Von Daniken and the American, Giorgio A. Tsukalos.

SETI uses technologies mostly centred on radio emitting systems and are planning to use a laser soon to help them contact an alien civilisation.

SETI has for the past 35 years been attempting to locate an alien civilisation. Its efforts have been boosted by recent finds of earth-like planets located in a zone much like our planet is from our sun and could possibly hold life. However, hitherto they have not detected any extraterrestrial civilisation similar to ours. This need not mean that humans are alone in the universe, but when our own galaxy is so immense, imagine he size of the universe with its countless galaxies and their native planets. it is possible that on some planets harbour alien life which might include aliens with similar or better communication technologies.

But what I find is the enormity and the high improbabilities of finding intelligent life on another world for the reasons of; their existence with sophisticated technologies, that only primitive life such as microbes, animals and vegetation, that they may have existed but were wiped out in a catastrophe, sheer distance, they may not have developed sophisticated technologies like us and their non-existence.

In order for an alien to contact us, they must be using the same kind of technologies that we use in the form of radio telescopes on the ground such as SETI's own Allen Space Array, America's National Science Foudation's of America's Arecibo Telescope and Britain's Jodrell Bank radio telescopes and orbiting space telescope such as the American Kepler telescope and TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. If they did not, then there will not be a chance that they will either be able to contact us or receive a signal from us.

Another matter to consider is that they may be using radically different interstellar communications technologies that we have not conceived yet. If that is the case, any signals from them even if they reach our planet, it will not be received by us. It is akin to someone using a smartphone trying to call someone else who is using a 19th century landline phone.

It is, possible that in the enormity of the size of the galaxies as well as our own Milky Way, that many planets harbour simple microbial life, or simple animals. Can you talk   about advanced technology or even football to a microbe or a mouse?

Another consideration to view is that they may have existed far in the distant past when mankind was not developed as it is now, but due to some catastrophe such as a collision with a huge comet, or an onslaught by a sudden large burst of gamma radiation from their sun or even a massive eruption by a super volcanic eruption, they were annihilated with none or  few survivors. Our own planet has experienced such events from the demise of the dinosaurs from a comet strike, the extinction of mega fauna due to volcanic eruption and that humans of today were survivors from Africa which killed of large populations on the Earth due to a super volcano.

There is a possibility that they exist but have not developed as far as we have and therefore will not be able to capture signals from us. What if their state of technological development is akin to Middle Ages Europe and Asia with contemporaneity with Central and South America, but we are at our present stage of technological development? It is like sending a wireless message from a computer to someone using smoke signals. 

Interstellar space is incalculably vast. If an extraterrestrial civilisation with similar communications technologies exists, the sheer unfathomable vastness might not allow our signals to be strong enough to have the integrity for them to reach that extraterrestrial civilsation. With distance, the strength and integrity of any radio signal or laser beam, will weaken and vanish.

In addition, an intelligent life form on another world may not be the same kind of carbon-based life forms which is what we humans are. They could be a different kind of life form, perhaps with advanced technologies, but are completely dissimilar to ours and they cannot communicate with us due to the kind of language they use. It is like they are similar to insects but we are mammals. Despite being technologically advanced their might not be able to comprehend us.

Lastly, an extraterrestrial civilisation capable of sending and receiving messages might exist at all. So far, NASA has detected many earth like planets which might support life. Some are about the size of our Earth whilst others are much larger. But so far, no indication of intelligent or any life at all.  Are we indeed all alone in space? I hope not. What about you?

In conclusion, when we examine the points made, I think a great deal of patience, sobriety and perseverance is needed in our quest to find any form of life on another world. We, perhaps, should not expect too much from the search for extraterrestrial life, but we must not dismiss the efforts of SETI or NASA. How do we know for absolute certainty that there are not any technologically advanced societies out there. 

 Links:

1. https://seti.org/

2. https://www.jodrellbank.net/

3. https://www.naic.edu/

4.  https://tess.mit.edu/

5.https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html

The Need to Learn English in a Connected World: A Common Language for Communication Beyond Borders.

Our world is increasingly becoming connected. We have heard of terms and phrases such as; globalisation, one-world, and connected world used in various contexts to describe how connected or are increasingly becoming connected into a global society. We can argue that the need for international business, finance and politics is making it necessary to stay abreast. Indeed, when people utter the expression 'it's a small world' in social contexts to mean that someone they know knows someone else. That expression can be used to describe just how small our world has become. Apart from scattered and isolated aboriginal communities, we are living in a world connected by the Internet, the World Wide Web with its cornucopia of resources, newspapers-print or electronic, Internet connected messenger services such as email and WhatsApp or WeChat and a plethora of apps for the computer and smartphone. The explorers of the past will be astounded to know, if they come back today, to see how far humanity has covered the planet with almost every inhabitable nook and cranny on the planet having become familiar to all.

In such a world where information is now at a premium for decision making for all sorts of reasons, a common language is often held to be an efficacious means of communication. Even though the need or desire and the accruing benefits of multilingualism, a common language can make communication beyond borders easy, without code switching or code mixing, or choosing a language from an array of them in order to communicate. Hence, many now see English as the preferred lingua franca for communicating beyond borders. The reasons for the need to learn English are as follows; international trade & finance, multinational corporation business, international politics, interpersonal communications, and tourism.

International trade and finance are a common phenomenon these days. Capitalism requires the consumption of raw materials and the resultant manufacture of finished products for domestic and foreign consumption. This is needed in order to keep money in circulation in the economy which in turn keeps employment for the citizen of a country. Domestic consumption alone never suffices for a country to generate tax revenue in order to run a country. Exports are needed to increase earnings of companies, sustain employment and increase national income. Even communist countries concede to the need for international trade. Many communist countries such as the People's Republic of China, The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the Republic of Cuba encourage their people, including school children, to learn English as they realise its importance in international business. If there are a multiplicity of languages for people to know in order to facilitate international trade, it will become difficult to communicate with one another. People will have to learn many languages while learning academically related subjects needed to gain employment. It will be an overload and burden on them. Also, international finance is required to fuel business and trade. Banks often borrow from foreign banks or financial institutions in other countries. Reinsurance companies and large insurance companies and large-scale finance companies. This will make it absolutely necessary for their staff to make financial arrangements quickly. With a common business language, the work flow will be very fast and not requiring cumbersome translating and re-translating. So the use of English makes for ease of conducting international trade and finance easy. 

Multinational corporation businesses use English as much as possible. Many large multinational corporations such Nestles, Mondelez, Johnson & Johnson, M&Ms, British Petroleum, Anglo-Dutch Shell, HSBC, BAE Systems and others use English as the standard language in their day to day business. It makes for a common denominator in all business transactions and corporate communications. Wherever these companies have their offices, factories or other kinds of installations, English assists in internal and external communications.

International diplomacy uses English as its language of choice. The United Nations (UN) and also other international organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank and other regional organisations such as the Association of South East Asian Nations use English in their day to day dealings. If the national languages of each component nation were used then there will be great difficulty in getting work done and they will be making slow progress in their efforts. Even organisations such as Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace use English for their daily work internationally. Therefore by using English as a standard language, they save time from translation and can work faster.

Interpersonal communications have grown exponentially in recent years with the Internet being used to support social media services such as the ever popular and ubiquitous Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Vimeo and myriad other social media platforms. The popularity of these platforms shows the growth in the need for interpersonal communications. While many social media platforms support various national languages, English as a common language makes it easy for people located far from one's national borders to communicate with people all over the world.

As well as that a people travel more and more often abroad as tourists, travelers and adventure seekers. The use English by hotels and resorts is increasing. Although their day to day business maybe in the local language, knowledge of English is useful to their staff in dealing with guests.

To sum up, it can be seen that to conduct international trade, finance, business, interpersonal communications, tourism and interpersonal communications, English is needed to be learnt. A common language makes it easier to be understood, makes working easier and makes communicating for whatever purpose all the more easier.

Going to the Park. Paragraph writing.

I often love going to the park. I usually go there at the weekends and sometimes during the working week when I am on a day off from work. It is always interesting to go to the park. You can watch the world pass by as you bask in the sun’s brilliant glory shining on you as if it was happy to see you. If you take care to look closely around you, you can see birds on the ground looking for something to eat. You can see children and people walk around; their minds filled with all manner of thoughts. You can look at the clouds drifting by like big balls of cotton against the striking blue of the sky. Sometimes the clouds are hiding the sun and revealing it the next moment as if they were playing some sort of game of revelation and concealment. I love the quiet and serenity of the park. It can be so silent that you can hearing the chirping of birds. I can take in the whiff of fresh air storming into my nostrils and into my lungs, filling it with coolness, relaxation and peace. The coolness bears a similitude to mint as the air courses through your lungs. It is never just you alone in the park. There are other people and you can see all sorts of people. There will be all manner of folk. The young, juveniles and elderly all love the park. By just relaxing, I can let go of my worldly concerns in a brief period in the span of space and time. I like to take something to eat and drink when I am in the park. Slowly sipping a drink and munching on a sandwich as I bask in the calmness which is a sharp contrast to the chaos of the world. The park becomes an island of calm amidst chaos. It is a place of refuge and alternative to the calm of the home. They say that the home is where the heart is. Can the park be like it too? I wonder and maybe you too.

The Inventor - Paragraph writing.

The inventor is an imaginative and creative person. As well as that, the inventor is a person of great foresight and ambition. The inventor must be able to see what it that people want and then goes ahead and invent. The inventor should have great business acumen and be skilled in technical matters. The inventor must also be charming, smart and charismatic because he needs to be because he has to be able to persuade people to fund him and accept his inventions to be manufactured and sold. The inventor must be a perseverant person like Thomas Edison who persevered countless times until he invented the electric light bulb. The inventor can be like Leonardo Da Vinci who was not only an inventor but a mathematician, engineer, artist and astronomer. He designed things like the helicopter and tank well before their adevnt in the 20th century.The inventor has existed since man came into existence. The inventor can be nameless and faceless. Who is the inventor of the wheel?, the simplest machine which can now be found as a component of so many types of machines? The car, train and aircraft have wheels in which the wheel is a component. The cog is a component of machines such as laser printers and turbines and it is also a wheel. The humble lever which man in ancient times used to lift blocks of stone was made from wood and these days it is made from metal and is still used, unnoticed, among fantastic inventions like computers and radars. We can ask a question here; which inventor shall we applaud for inventing something; the nameless and faceless inventors who came a long time ago or the ones who in recent times have their names and faces become well known to all? Regardless of those; what will our world be like if there were not any such clever and inventive people? The inventor is worthy of praise. The inventor has made our daily lives so much easier. As long as mankind needs something to use there will be an inventor.

The Positive Identification of Incorrect Grammatical Forms.

Grammar is the way in which we combine, organise and change words, parts of words and groups of words to make meaning. We use grammar unconsciously when we read, write, speak and listen in a language. When grammar is used correctly the meaning conveyed in a message is properly understood. But when it is incorrectly used, the message's meaning is not understood. Teachers, tutors and lecturers use grammar by referring to its uses and forms. Teacher, tutors and lecturers are interested in prescriptive grammar which is concerned with the correct usage of grammar. Hence, we instruct the correct usage of grammar through the conduits of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Whenever errors are made we instinctively correct the error even if it is only in our minds and outside the classroom.

However, there are instances where the correct grammatical form is not used, but the message is understood. This anomaly occurs when it is socially acceptable for sentences to be constructed (or framed) in a manner which is in direct conflict with the rules of grammar. The combination, organisation and sequence of the sentence even with omissions of certain parts of speech, a sentence is still understood. 

The following set of sentences will illustrate this phenomenon;

1. Incorrect forms: Electricity still I have not paid / Electricity bill I have not paid.

    Correct form: I have not paid my electricity bill yet. Or I still haven't pain my electricity bill (yet).

2. Incorrect forms: The butter and jam are not finished yet, see first/ The butter and jam not finished yet, why open new ones?

    Correct forms: The butter and jam aren't finished yet. Why are you using a new block of butter and opening a new bottle of jam?

3. Incorrect form: The water bill you have paid already. (This is actually a question constructed in the form of an affirmative declarative sentence). 

    Correct form: Have you paid the water bill yet?

4. Incorrect form: The car are all still in the traffic jam. (No use of the plural form for the noun- car).

   Correct form: The cars are all still in a traffic jam or gridlock.

This is apparently so in Malaysia, which is my country, and is pervasive. This is due to a conflict between the native language or mother tongue of users and learners , referred to as L1, and the new language, English, which is referred to as L2. The native languages of  Malaysians is Malay, Tamil (and some other  south Indian dialects), Punjabi (and some other north Indian dialects), Iban, Kadazan, Dusun, Mandarin, Hokkein and other Chinese dialects. In these non-English languages the sentence structure which I have shown are actually largely correct. It is perfectly correct to say in Tamil, Hindi, Malay and Chinese; "My car not repaired already" in their languages  and incredibly, they are fully understood. It is perfectly correct to say in Tamil; "My house already repainted". What people do is to refer to the structure required in English (L2) by referring to how it is in their language (L1). 

By understanding English by referring back to their mother tongue , they understand what has to be uttered or written in English and likewise frame their sentences in English with a similar structure. Even errors in the singular and plural can still be understood. This is what I mean by the positive identification of incorrect grammatical forms. People while using what in prescriptive language terms incorrect are held as positive or correct.

This conundrum starts from childhood. When at home many Malaysians use their native or mother tongue and steadfastly hold on to it when they enter school. This is due to ethnic pride, cultural pride and shaming when they use English. This is compounded by the dismal quality of English language instruction in Malaysia. The poor quality of English language teaching is due to the politically induced policies of successive governments in this country and is now a big issue here. Thankfully it is now being addressed but belatedly for a few generations of English language learners who have gone before. Many students do not know the parts of speech and their functions and cannot create grammatically correct exponents according to the desired function in an given context. There are students studying at tertiary level or for professional qualifications who do not know proper English.

To conclude, it might be a little too late for some, but we cannot be complacent for the sake of future generations of students. We live in a connected global society and Malaysia is an export oriented nation. one way or other, our citizens or many of them, will have to use English which has become the de facto international language. English is no longer the possession of Britain or other Anglo-Saxon nation like Australia. It  belongs to the international community. 

Please view my earlier posts; 

The need to learn English (https://theenglish-teacher.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-need-to-learn-english.html)

The Importance Grammar in English (https://theenglish-teacher.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-importance-of-grammar-in-english_25.html)  

The Missing Ticket- A Short Story.

It falls on some of us to learn profound lessons about people and life as a personal experience. That is what happened to me a few months ago when I wanted to go on a business trip. 

My name is Adrian Murphy. I work for the famous confectioner- Mars. I am a junior marketing executive. I have been working for Mars ever since I got my marketing qualifications. I love my company even if I have a short fat balding little man for a head of department who sweats like a waterfall when stressed. A few of us have bosses like Raymond Daniels. He is a short, balding, tubby little man with all the manners of an ogre. My workplace is in Slough which is not very far from Maidenhead where I live. Slough is just your typical industrial city that you can find anywhere in England. Maidenhead, ah, sweet Maidenhead, is the picture of proper urban planning which was common place in post-war Britain. Lined with trees, pockmarked with post-war style houses, tidy high-rise flats and apartments. The loveliest city in this corner of England.

I got an email from Raymond the previous evening when I got home. The barrel of lard always sends emails whenever he pleases to do so. He told me in the email that I was to go to Manchester to talk to a wholesaler who had contacted him about a new business proposal. Conveniently, Raymond attached a couple of spreadsheets, word documents and slides all for my perusal. He told me as well to meet him at the office the next morning for a chat about the trip. I went through all that he sent me well into the night. I went through what he sent me. It was all sorts of business plans, charts, graphs and slides. He had a voice recording where briefed me on what was needed to be done. It was all too familiar to me. I have done it many a time before and rather splendidly well as a matter of fact.

The next morning, I met up with the fat toad, in his office along with Marge, his secretary, Bill, Jayne and Tim, all from the sales and marketing department. After a long chat and briefing I found out that I had to leave by train to Manchester the next morning. I checked with the railways that the next train tomorrow was at 11 am. We all agreed that I will leave for Manchester that morning.

The following day arrived and I drove to London from Maidenhead. It takes only an hour to reach London from Maidenhead. I left home at 9 am sharp knowing I will have time for a cup of tea and cake while waiting for the train to take me from London to Manchester. Along the way, I phoned Raymond to tell him that I was on the way to London. All Raymond said in his gruff tone said was the usual yeah all right then. The journey to London was largely free of traffic right into London. 

I arrived in London at 10 minutes past 10. Jolly well pleased, I parked my car in the car park at Kings Cross Station and took my bags with my laptop and a suitcase. I walked to the counter an purchased my ticket into my trouser pocket and happily walked to a nice cafe` near the station. I passed by a number of people of all sorts on my way. But there were a number of homeless people. They were smelly, badly clothed, unwashed and spent their time begging. You have to be careful that you do not give on beggar money because when the rest of them see it, they will rush towards you in desperation.

Beggars basically make feel sick. They are shabbily dressed, never want to work a day in their lives, louts, loafers and always out for a free meal. Often covered in dirty brown or green shawls, the air reeking with the pungent odour of unwashed bodies, they sit, stand and wander about like zombies. Their teeth often decayed and stained in black or brown in a way that you never want to see them open their mouths for whatever reason come what may. Their clothes are mostly coats dirtied with grime and stained with God knows what. The stench is simply putrid. I always regarded them as lowly people devoid of any honesty, decency and goodness. The type of people who never did an honest days work. A bunch of shirkers and louts who will happily thieve.

When I purchased my train ticket, I thought that I had carefully put it in my jacket's pocket.

It cost £37.50p for a to and fro journey. It was of course chargeable to my expense account. That miserly beggar, Raymond, always kept a careful eye on staff expenses. If you double charged anything or bought anything unnecessary, Raymond will dance on your head. So, I sat in a cafe' having a tea and cake. 

When the time came to board the train, I hurriedly made my way to the platform. As I walked briskly to the train station, I heard someone shouting 'Oi... here wait a minute, mate'. I stopped and turned around and this shabbily dressed vagrant came quickly like a hare staring at me. I held something in his waving hand. I immediately thought that he wanted my charity. No way! I thought. he was not getting any money from me. The stupid sod. 

So, I hurried to the platform and passed through an aisle. The security guard at the entrance of the train stopped the clumsy beggar and turned him away. I glanced at him and saw the security guard turn him away. The vagrant looked anxiously at me and sadly moved away from the entrance but he didn't go far. instead he just stood there not far from the station and within view of me. Making my way towards the entrance to the platform where the automated ticket collection machines stood like stoic guardians to the platform. When I dug into my pocket, I could not find my ticket. Panicking, I searched again furtively, mindful that I will have to pay again, compounded with not charging my expense account for an additional train ticket, missing the train, which was to leave in minutes, and having to explain to my nutty boss. I searched all my pockets, jacket and pants. No ticket. Good lord! I thought. What on earth happened? It was then I realised that I must have dropped it either at the cafe' or on the road. I made my way quickly to the entrance, carrying my laptop bag and suitcase. It was then that the vagrant who had earlier called out to me came towards me with a forlorn sad and anxious look on his untidy bearded face with my ticket in his had. I was in utter and complete shock. Suddenly, a flood of shame flooded me. I thought of vagrants and the homeless as dishonest bums. Shyly, I took the ticket from him, not being able to look him in the eye for long. He said to me, 'Here mate, you dropped your ticket.' he said softly. I thanked him and reached into my wallet and pulled out £10 and gave it to him. He smiled and thanked me bowing his head a couple of times. I thanked him bowing my head. My perception of the poor changed at that moment. Full of shame, I sped along to the train station to make of the Manchester.

This is what I learnt that day. People fall into destitution for all sorts of reasons. They can run into misfortune ranging from loss of occupation, divorce or were thrown out of home by their parents. it does not mean that they are shiftless and mean. Kindness, decency and honesty are not the sole domain of some of us who have a house, a car, money and family. Anyone can have good attributes. Never think otherwise.

The Minotaur's Lament. A Short Story.

There can be no wretch in mythology born into such abject circumstances worse than the Minotaur. A half-man half-bull monster who never asked to be born in that way. An abomination. Too grotesque and shameful for the world to see. His stepfather's greed for sacrificing what was a gift from a god that is due back to that god. His mother's bestial lust for that bull, the curse of a god. Cast into a dark forlorn labyrinth, all alone except for his stepsister's comforting words and the horrifying food he was given ritually every seven years of seven virgin males and females from Greece. His gruesome and miserable life was brought to an end by a golden boy, a hero, always adulated and cherished - Theseus. This is the story of his release from a miserable life as told by him.

The Minotaur speaks to us his lament:

I never asked to be born in this way. What kind of a god punishes the innocent for another's sin? My stepfather, King Minos, was greedy for the bull gifted to him by Poseidon. King Minos wanted a magnificent white bull from Poseidon, the God of the Sea. Seeing Minos's piety and devotion to him, the master of the sea gifted him the most magnificent white bull that Gaia, Goddess of the Earth, will never bestow on a mortal. The bull strode out of the emerald blue of the sea and headed straight to King Minos. Minos was thrilled beyond his ability to contain himself. Never had he or anyone beheld such a wondrous sight. Ivory-hued, gentle-eyed, sweet-smelling, and beautiful of disposition was the bull from the sea. Minos prepared a special stable for the bull and spent days and nights admiring the creature. He fed it with the beast olives and gave it to drink the sparkling water from the peak of Mount Ida. 

The high priestess cautioned Minos that any gift from the gods must be returned in some form to them. The gods give nothing for free, however much a mortal deserved it. Minos didn't listen to her. Her emphatic pleas fell on ears that might as well be filled with wax. I know the priestess. Richly dressed in finest cloth, splashed in vibrant colors laid out in stripes. Her long hair, well combed and dressed, hung down to her chest. The high priestess and her priestesses didn't hate, loath, or fear me. They pitied me and often spoke to me through holes in the ceiling of the labyrinth.

King Minos, my stepfather, is still pink with yesterday's blessings. Still strong despite the silver in his hair. Strong of appearance. An indomitable and powerful man who exuded power. Wise, clever yet heartless, merciless and cold. he ruled with an iron fist. The Greeks dreaded him while his people adulated him, though they secretly feared him.  

My mother, Queen Pasiphae, didn't want anything to do with me. She, my mother, knowledgeful of the curse on Minos and helpless to act against the magic of a god, abandoned me. Too ashamed, she hid in the palace. Ariadne, my half-sister told me that my mother was once so beautiful, and had now become as haggard as a crone when she beheld me at my birth. She screamed in terror at the monster she had borne. Now she sits alone in her chamber, attended by handmaidens. Ariadne told me even a gorgon will shudder at the sight of her.

Ariadne was beautiful, with long dark hair, milky white of complexion and her soul, pure as gold. My comfort, my solace, and beloved sister. She alone in my half family was the only real family I had. Yet, when Theseus arrived, she too betrayed me and in turn betrayed by her lover. She escaped the insanity that surrounded me when Theseus arrived on Crete's resplendent shores.

My mind was haunted with the cries of my sacrificial victims. I long lost count of the number of young men and women I had killed and devoured. Their screams of fear, their anguish as well they entered the gloomy poorly lit labyrinth. That was how I came to be cast as a cannibal, a hideous monster whose mouth drools with wine red blood and yellow mucus filled spit. My head sporting ivory horns, a face that will even make a Gorgon shudder with terror, an evil demonic entity, cast away from sight. Do you think that I am a beast so cruel that I eat people? Eat the virginal innocents sent to me to avenge my stepbrother, Androgeus's, death at the hands of jealous Athenian youths. What is it to me if the Athenians were jealous of a capable athlete like Androgeus? I never knew him but I sympathise for his death for beloved Ariadne.

For many years I have been incarcerated in this dank cold gloomy prison-the labyrinth. The putrid stench of rotting human remains, and my own bodily waste made the air so rancid, that I left some parts of the labyrinth free so that I can breathe easily. You have no idea of what abject squalor is until you are imprisoned in an awful lamentable place like I am. It is dimly lit with torches thrown into it from trapdoors in the above ceiling that punctuate the ceiling by terrified slaves. With the torches, chunks of meat and beakers of water are regularly thrown at me as if I was a lowly unwanted dog when there was no human meat to devour. I stalk the twisting turning winding corridors of my filthy but ingeniously designed labyrinth. This doleful gulf, the labyrinth is my torment for something that was never my doing.

A person is a monster if you allow that person to be a monster. We are not born monsters. We are made into monsters. We become what others think we are or want us to be by allowing not us to be good people. We are never given any chance of redemption. We are never allowed to rise above our predicament. We react in kind and are pronounced as monsters without realizing that we merely react to how we are treated because we are helpless. If they can get some chance of redemption, if they can get some sort of reprieve, they will do so, even if it is near the time for them to die.

But today I think it will be my last on this horrid island so paradoxically set in the emerald blue of the splendid Aegean Sea. Today Ariadne told me that a splendid magnificent and handsome prince from Athens is here. His name is Theseus. He has come with virgin young men and women. Ariadne told me that Daedalus has given her a ball of string- the clue- to help Theseus find and kill me. She too will leave this awful island with her lover, in spite of her tyrannical and merciless cruel father. Ariadne had earlier bargained with mighty Zeus, the all father, that I will go to Elysium when I die. Zeus, tired of Minos's cruelty towards me and Poseidon’s, his brother, indifference towards me, in a great vision appeared to Ariadne, and agreed with her that I will go to Elysium. We agreed that it is only way I can get out of my misery and spare others of their suffering- the poor Greek boys and girls. 

Into this woeful doleful and hideous gulf come the Greek youths. Seven innocent boys and seven innocent girls. Fear not my brave Greeks, today the Minotaur will be no more. Your prince, the Greek golden boy-Theseus, will slay me. Ha ha! In your silly face king Minos, Theseus is being helped by Ariadne, your sweet princess, I hope that that Greek golden boy dispatches you after me. 

Wait! Now comes a cry calling my name. It is my liberator. I must do battle. I am the Minotaur, the slayer, the monster, but you do not know this, the fighter. I will die fighting. I reach for my double-bladed battle axe and sally forth. Happily, and merrily and with bravery I will die. For today, I will be free.

I saw the dimly lit hero and he saw me. He charged roaring like a boy on a testosterone 

fueled charge, and I, with a mighty roar that can shake mighty Olympus, making the ceilings to collapse, it pillars to fall in a thunderous crash. Charge I did and we fought. A sapling is what this Greek golden boy is, but a doughty fighter nonetheless. Finally, in a clever thrust of his sword into my heart, I felt a sharp pain. OH! What paradoxically sweet pain. For in pain I died. Breathing one last roar and blowing my final breath into my slayer's face, I die. I the Minotaur have breathed my last. Soon, in Elysium's golden fields I will stride. Mighty and proud, but feared not, the Minotaur. 

Thrift.

Thrift is the quality of not spending too much money. By thrift one is able spend on things that are necessary and not on superfluous things. Thrift is a unique quality with only advantages and no disadvantages. The advantages that are gained are; having a surplus of money, no debts and a modicum of possessions. Thrift sees people being happy as they have what they need and are not tempted to have too many possessions and always have money to spare. Thrift means never being spend-thrift and incurring debts and having a shortage of money or no money at all. Thrift means never being swayed by the reckless desire for unwanted goods and services. Thrift means wanting only what you need and not what you want. What you want is not necessarily what you need. But what you need is always what you want. Thrift means you have self-control. You do not spend because you desire to and are in full control over yourself. Thrift is separate from miserliness. Misers are stingy on everything and are unhappy. They think that that by restricting expenditure they will always keep their money. Misers have their money but they are unhappy. Those who are thrifty have their money, but they are happy.However, misers are such people that they are never happy. They think only of themselves and never give money to others who are in need. To give is to receive. But thrift means being wise.

A total of 232 words, approximately 18 words per line and 13 lines.

Red Skull Island: Indoctrination Naivety Ignorance and Stupidity.

North Sentinel Island or as I prefer to call it, Red Skull Island, is a mysterious island in the Bay of Bengal. It is a part of a chain of islands which form a part of the Andaman Nicobar Island group. Specifically, the island is a part of the Andaman Island group of that chain of islands. The Andaman Nicobar Island chain of islands are a part of the Republic of India.

Location of the Andaman Islands.

The inhabitants of the Andaman Island group are indigenous to those islands. Ethnically, the natives are a Negrito people whose ancestors had eons ago moved throughout the Malay Archipelago. They are a short, pygmy-like black people who resemble in some ways the negroes of Africa, but not completely so. They are suspected to have come out of Africa, but that is arguable, as people have been found to appear all over the planet, some 50,000 years ago. Most of the tribes living in the Andaman island group have contact with people from India, as the Andaman Nicobar Island group belongs

to India. There are at least 375,00 Indian settlers on the Andaman Nicobar Islands with the sole exception of North Sentinel Island. Interestingly the natives of North Sentinel Island have had little contact with outsiders leave alone their relatives on the main islands of the Andamans. The few contacts with outsiders have never ended well for the natives and often more than not for anyone who encroached on their privacy. Except for a few short visits by Indian anthropologists, most people who try to visit the island are threatened and warned off by the spear, ax, bow and arrow wielding hostile natives. Some intruders have also been killed whether they landed on the island intentionally or by accident. The inhabitants do not want contact with the outside world. In the history of outside contact with them, things never fared well for them and hence this is possibly their reason for suspiciousness of outsiders. It is arguable that in their oral history they may have handed down from generation to generation tales of death and turmoil from outsiders. Who knows? We have never made long lasting contact with them. They probably have an oral record of historical contact with the outside world. In the 19th century a British colonial official went to North Sentinel Island and took an elderly man and woman and four children to the main island for study. Unfortunately, the elderly couple fell ill and died. So, he returned the four children back to the island with a few gifts. The children would have recounted their harrowing experience thus fortifying any disdain and distrust for outsiders among the natives of North Sentinel Island.

Back on 17 November 2018, an idealistic and indoctrinated 27-year-old American Christian missionary called John Allan Chau was killed after he had set foot on that island. It appears that he had tried to land on that island twice and was promptly warned off by the locals. Despite the two previous warnings by the natives, fully cognizant that he was forbidden to go there, he set foot on the island and was duly killed in a hail of spears and arrows. This tragic event and the background of why this American went there in the first place makes for an in-depth examination of the attitudes of people from the west and even other parts of the world have been thoroughly indoctrinated and enthused with religious conviction.

John Allan Chau was the son of a Chinese immigrant to America. His father, Patrick Chau converted to the Baptist Christian sect, married a white American woman and worked as a psychiatrist. John Chau was his youngest child. John Chau graduated from the Oral Roberts University which I know is very good at indoctrinating people. I had a former school mate who attended that sinister university and himself is a Christian fanatic. Another former school mate of mine told me I should never have any contact with our former school mate as he will attack your religion regardless of what religion you subscribe to. Even other Christian denominations are not spared.  He was a member of the All Nations church which believed in promulgating Christianity to people by indoctrinating its members to believe in the redeeming qualities of their version of Christianity.

John Allan Chau went to that island knowing full well that the natives are hostile. He was in the opinion that they need salvation and they will open their hearts to Jesus and his teachings. He had carefully planned his ill-fated expedition over some years, collected any important information about the island and its locals, made friends with people who knew about the place and health issues about treading on island unfamiliar with germs of the outside world. John Allan Chau had friends on the Andaman Islands who helped with his preparations.

What inspired this disillusioned evangelist was his in part his father's success story from the time he (John Allan's father) set foot on American soil, how not learning English sufficiently well to attend a top university, the story of  Nicobarese islander called John Richardson and his indoctrination which made him blind to the religious views of others as typified by my former schoolmate. He had also read about the Nicobarese population which progressed after conversion to Christianity. Indeed, they have but they are not fanatics like John Allan Chau. In his mind, Christianity was a good thing as it made people progress. This is a view I heard from one Baptist Christian who claimed that his religion was the basis of western civilisation. Little do these people understand that much of civilisation was created by non-Christians and by mostly pagans. His church prepared him for his ill-fated excursion. Apparently, his church elders took him to a remote island where they dressed up a native armed with spears. So, he got some training for his trip. He was nonetheless apprehensive about going to that island and feared his death at the hands of the natives. Despite his fears of death, he still wanted to go there knowing full well how dangerous such a journey will be. 

This is the trouble with evangelical Christians. They cannot see the wood from the trees and think that what they believe to be true and are often ignorant of the world, history and culture. What made him think the Sentinelese will understand English? What made him think that they will accept his religion? Mind you the locals gave him fair warning twice. Sadly, this naive ill-informed and indoctrinated man died on a remote island. His family will never be able to recover his remains for burial. This is not a full-blown attack on Christianity but the Church he belonged to. His church's representative claimed that he went there to give them the love of God. What nonsense! Those people have no immunity to outside illnesses. Did he not think about this? This shows the callous stupidity of his church which had thoroughly indoctrinated this ignorant young man. I have met such evangelical Christians. They often have very little general knowledge and only believe what they are told by their church. It is as if, what they are taught by their church is right and the rest is the work of the "devil". This idiotic and closed-minded view makes them trample on the beliefs of other people whom they perceive as backward thinking and lost to God. John Allan Chau's intentions may have been benign but they were ill thought out and naive. He broke the law set by the Indian government which had banned any visits to that island. Does not his church believe in the rule of law?

In the main Andaman Islands, there live the indigenous Jarawa, and the Onge. These people are ethnically related to the Sentinelese. Before the arrival of the British and later, when the island group came under the ownership of India, Indian settlers, there were the Jangil on one of the smaller islands but are now extinct. While the Nicobarese people have fared well. The Jarawa and Onge tribes of the main Andaman Islands have not weathered the intrusion of settlers to their lands very well. Displacement from their ancestral lands and reduced to living in protected settlements, as well as encroachment by settlers into their original tribal hunting and living areas, have been sufferings wrought on these native peoples. Their numbers have declined from the thousands in the last century to a few hundred today. There is much demand for farming land for the settlers and for the construction of holiday resorts and houses If measures are not taken to protect the Sentinelese, they may well go extinct.

North Sentinel Island

In conclusion, such evangelical efforts must be stopped. As well as that, any danger to the natives must not be allowed from land developers and any kind of intruder. Respect the rights of indigenous peoples and all first nations people. They should be left alone and not converted to another religion. The survival of such people should be left in their hands. If there is a request for help, then let them voluntarily do so. Attempts to "civilise" them is racist, bigoted and ignorant. One must understand the situation, health issues and cultural norms of uncontacted people. People like the Sentinelese are fifth world nations. This is a recognition of their place in the world. These fifth nations people are often vulnerable. They are susceptible to economic exploitation by outsiders who want the lands they inhabit. They are prone to diseases for which they have no immunity to. Often, they are a minority in the lands they inhabit with numerous outsiders living among them. Hence, they must be protected. The world will lose a part of humanity and its identity as a diverse set of people with different cultures and ethnicities. The world will lose any knowledge of medical cures which these people know. Their extinction is tantamount to genocide. They will become a loss to the science of anthropology. 

The Late John Allan Chau.

Links:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2400030/john-allen-chau-life-death-north-sentinel

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/world/asia/andaman-missionary-john-chau.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/death-of-a-missionary-1543176072

https://www.newsweek.com/journal-christian-missionary-killed-tribe-sentinelese-people-1451120

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/john-chaus-death-andaman-are-foreigners-allowed-enter-north-sentinel-island-92050

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGIIknBC1aA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl55oTa2DrY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jazxvrfGHA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMrl8jFh8Ag