Good morning my dear fellow toastmasters and distinguished guests! I'm so glad to see so many friends here today. It seems that some of you have already known me right? While the one you know is the current Caroline, are you curious about my childhood? (Yes)
Ok my ice breaking speech today will satisfy the curiosity in your heart.
I will talk about 2 aspects, the first is about study, the second is about character.
Now let's start from study.
When I was in primary school, I was a well-deserved "Xue Ba". Everyone in my school knew me because I always got the first place in every examination and contest. Sometimes even very far ahead of the 2nd place student. Someone may think I must spend a lot of time and effort on study at that time, but the truth is, there was an accident in my family when I was in grade 3, my beloved father got a terrible disease. For a couple of years, he could not work and even could not take care of himself. I had to ask for leaves, stay at home to help from time to time. I still clearly remember, once after a long leave, 1 or 2 weeks, as soon as I came back to school, in the morning, a classmate came to me in a hurry and she asked me how to resolve a math problem which was in the homework. I took over the book, took a glance, and then told her the right solution immediately. When I recall this now, I still feel so proud of myself. Sometimes I even suspect, was there any god or angel helping me at that time? If yes, I want to say - thank you so much!
Yes, I was the legend known as next-door kid at that time.
A next-door kid is usually annoying, right? People will think, why? why she can do that? While the case was a little bit different for me. Maybe because of my special family condition or my character, it seemed not so many people hated me, they admired me instead.
Now let's talk about character.
I was not a talkative girl at that time. I was relatively quiet. My heart was very soft and full of love. I hated wars and fightings.
Let me tell you a funny story.
Still in primary school, once I was sitting in the classroom, 2 little boys were fighting in front of me, just because of a used paper ball. No one would like to take it. They threw it to each other and were quarreling all the time. I could not bear it, I watched for a while then talked to them: please give the paper to me, it is mine. The boys were shocked, I took the paper ball and threw it away. The boys were still confused, but I was happy inside. I stopped a fighting! Later after many years, I realized, sometimes boys just need this kind of activity to release their extra energy, it's nothing serious. But at that time I was happy to stop the fighting.
Since I was very young, I have the sense that every life has its own feeling, so I never walk on grasses. Because I think they will feel pain.
This is about my character, still like next-door kid right?
Several days ago, one of my colleague, an elder sister asked me: "Hi Caroline, I'm curious, do you have any secret to be so nice as well as keeping your own standpoint?" I felt surprised to hear this, and I thought for a while then replied her - I think the most important reason should be I didn't lack love while growing up. Maybe lack of money sometimes but never lack of love. I believe if someone received a lot love in the childhood, she can store the love in her heart, and when she grow up, she just wants to give the same love and respect to others. This is something like human natural.
Yes, I used to be a next-door kid. Now I’ve grown up with a lot of changes on the way. However the childhood experiences still impacts me, so I came to Toastmasters and meet so many other “next door kids” here. I'm so happy to have you! At last, I want to say, let's continue the journey of next-door kid and enjoy our blooming together!