Toastmasters Speech Project # 9 (Persuade WIth Power)

THE GRAVE CAN WAIT  !

(Note:Just before the commencement of the speech all lights are turned off and the whole audience is in total darkness)

When you wake up one morning, if all what you see around you is this darkness, what will be your reaction ? You’ll be nervous for a few seconds, but then will realize that, at worst, it’s a power failure and that lights and brightness will be restored in your world sooner rather than later. But, there are some people among us, for whom all what they see from cradle to death bed is this lonely darkness. My dear friends, welcome to the world of a blind person. Today, I dedicate this speech to all blind people in this world, and within the next 7 minutes I’ll attempt to bring lights back (Note : lights are switch-on at this point) to the lives of at least a few of them.

I want you to take a look at these people,

 all of them are famous for great achievements in their respective fields. What is common for all of them is blindness. Can you imagine how much more they could have achieved, if they had eye sight like you and me ? So, today I’m giving you an opportunity to lighten up a life of someone like them, someone in darkness…....someone blind !

Fellow Toastmasters and distinguished guests, if you still don’t have a clue of what I’m going to talk about, I’m not going to tell you that. But rather, I’ll show you a presentation and let someone more appropriate do the talking……

Toastmasters, do I need to explain anything more ? I’m talking about Eye donation…

Someday, when you make us all sad, and start knocking the doors of heaven, the body left behind on earth will be buried or cremated, but not necessarily your eyes. Human eyes could serve us for more than one lifetime. You may be dead, but your eyes could chase away the darkness surrounding someone else, and will continue to show the beauty of this wonderful world to him.   

So how do you do this ? The process of eye donation is not as complicated as it sounds. When you close your eye lids for the very last time in this life, someone has to inform the eye bank within 6 hours. Then the eye bank practitioners will come to where you are, and will retrieve the tissue called 'cornea' from your eyes. Within just 14 days someone will be seeing himself for the very 1^st time from a mirror through 'your eyes'…..isn’t it wonderful that you could still make someone happy even through your death ?  

Now, who can and cannot do this ? Anyone between the ages of 2 and 73 could donate their eyes, even if you have poor eye sight, diabetes or even cancer. The only barrier to becoming an eye donor is when you are infected with HIV Aids, active hepatitis or a sexually transmitted disease. So, now you have another reason to stay away from Aids & STD’s.

Before I conclude, I should clear a misconception about eye donation that is holding back thousands of prospective eye donors. Which is, the myth that when the eyes are removed, it will create a hole where the eyes existed, and your corpse would look scary......No.....only this thin tissue in the front eye called 'Cornea'  ;

 will be retrieved and not the whole eye. So trust me, your corpse will look only as scarier as how much you looked when you were alive.  :D

My dear friends, now that all these doubts are cleared, I really hope that you’ll follow my lead and will embrace this ultimate meritorious and humanitarian act of eye donation. Because, 'what you do for yourself dies with you, what remains is what you do for others'…leave the legacy behind !

Finally, when you are in your deathbed, grasping for your last few breaths, remember me, remember this day, and pass your eyes on.....They need not be buried yet, THE GRAVE CAN WAIT !