Have you ever thought of what a difference words makes? If somebody apologies and says, ”I’m sorry” meaningfully you are less likely to be angry or upset. If someone says “I need you” your whole life can be transformed.
“You’ve got the job” are words that many people would like to hear nowadays. “You’ve passed your driving test” is very satisfying to hear. “Your mother was a very special person” is a sentence we’d like to hear at her funeral.
We love to hear somebody saying “I have every confidence in you” because it makes us feel more able, more in control. “You child has been found safe and well” is the one thing every parent of a lost child longs to hear.
“Welcome home” is one of the most heart-warming things most of us will ever hear in our lifetime and we are all happy to be wished “Good luck” before some enterprise of ours. If someone says we are kind or generous or a good friend we feel very happy about ourselves.
Of course probably the most important words in the world are those in the marriage ceremony. “I do” is very short and sweet and it means such a lot.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

Does nobody know the difference between there is and there are? On the radio, on television we commonly hear “There’s three houses” or “There’s three people.” It seems nobody has ever been told that there is one of something and that when the number increase we should say there are instead.
Obviously an interviewer cannot correct a person who is appearing on his or her programme but surely somebody in authority should be responsible for the standard of English used on a national station? If we can blank out offensive language we can blank out something which must offend the ears of anybody with even a basic knowledge of English? Failing that we could put out a warning that this programme contains bad grammar.
Professionals make this mistake, so, unfortunately do parents and teachers so how can we expect children to know any better? Certainly those in advertising companies don’t because so many advertisements tell us that there’s great advantages to be got by using their products.
Isn’t it time we got singular and plural right?

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

A golden wedding anniversary shows us that there is still loyalty and commitment in this world. It shows that some people believe in keeping their promise of “Until death do us part.”
It proves that despite the hardships of life there are still people who are survivors, people who stick to each other despite illness and other difficulties.
Of course the people who are now celebrating that big occasion are mostly in their seventies or eighties. Could it be that they are the last survivors of a different era? Those who survived a word war could, one supposes, survive anything. Love, of course, conquers all.
The divorce rate in the U.S. in 2005 (per 1,000 people) was 3.6, the lowest rate since 1970, while the rate for Britain and Wales was a huge 11.9 per thousand although in both countries the numbers have been falling in the last few years. A more interesting statistic in Britain is the fact that one in five couples of those divorcing already had a previous divorce so perhaps they were not suited to marriage at all. Maybe those divorced for, say wife beating, should, by law, be forbidden to re-marry.
Children are, of course, the main sufferers when marriages break down. It takes very loving parents indeed to forget their own bitterness towards each other and put the children first.  Perhaps they should think very hard about the saying Divorce, don’t destroy the children too.
Perhaps the reason why divorce numbers have been falling in the last few years is that, economically, it is very difficult to run two homes these days. Then there are all the couples who choose not to get married but just to live together. It would be interesting to know how many of them will still be together fifty years from now.
Golden wedding anniversaries say a lot about the character of the couples involved. They are a cause for celebration and jubilation. Children usually pay tribute to their parents on this special occasion. Such a day, like the marriage of the couple, is definitely one made up of golden moments.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

President Obama said that the nation was losing its moral bearings. He was referring to the torture of prisoners of course but is it symbolic of that loss across American life as a whole? Statistics show that churches are losing member in great numbers. Where then do people go looking for a moral compass?
That is not to say, of course, that you have to belong to a religion to be good. It is merely to say that churches give guidelines to their members and exhort them to be better people Christians, have, for instance, the Ten Commandments and even the most unreligious person would have to admit that they are good guidelines for a decent life. People have understandably become disillusioned with the priesthood. The Catholic church has suffered most of us in this regard .It is well worth noting, though, that priests are not all paedophiles and that the innocent priests have suffered greatly as a result of the bad publicity. Certainly they were in a place of trust and abused it horribly. The same, though, is the case with the actual fathers of children and while they get individual bad publicity fathers as a whole do not.
The world has become a Godless place with money being what most people adore. It has taken a recession to show us that there are other deeper values. Temporal things can disappear but God is eternal. So don’t mind the skeptics – say a prayer.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

Earth Day is a day for some mental stocktaking. It’s a day when we add up the benefits we have in our natural world and deduct the ways we have ruined it knowingly and unknowingly. The answers make for grim reading.
Deforestation is a fact but we can, and many of us will, plant a tree in our gardens. We will pressurise for more parks because trees are nice. They add to the scenery. They give homes to the birds. The facts of forestry and the lack of it are easy to understand even for those of us who are not scientists. It’s troublesome but when we use cardboard or paper we should see does it come from sustainable forests. We might consider other materials for our furniture. We can plant new forests quickly.
What we are much less willing to want to admit is that automobiles kill people as well as the environment. Our lifestyle is based on using cars and we are very reluctant to abandon them. Whatever about trees most of us cannot come up with an alternative source of oil but we can ask our public representatives why much more is not being done in this area. If we can get men on the moon surely we can produce a fuel that will not harm our environment? We need to do it quickly. If everyone who celebrated Earth Day promised their vote to those who encouraged alternative energy there might be more of a shift in Government thinking. We can also buy hybrid cars or travel by bike or bus. We can take jobs nearer to home. We may not be scientists or engineers but we can and must realise that every little helps.
Marine pollution is something many of us do not consider at all but water covers a large percentage of the earth and it’s a vanishing resource in some countries such as Australia.
In other places it is rising dangerously. We need concerted action by all governments to save the world and its waters.
Instead of armies fighting each other they should be using the engineers and all that trained manpower to fight the biggest enemy of all. They could build desalination plants, and reclaim deserts. They could do whatever scientists think is necessary to protect our world.
The vanishing Ozone layer is an enemy that will kill us if we don’t realise that the message to everyone is. It’s your environment. Clean up your own backyard.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

Susan Boyle has captivated the world with her singing in Britain’s got talent. She had no hairdressers, no haute couture and no help. It is as though something inside her simply said, “Be yourself-you are special”. Despite themselves the judges agreed.
It wasn’t the first talent competition she entered but it proved that when it comes to luck you can make your own. It appears that she had a singing coach but it seems this is one lady who believes that you can become your own life coach.  She had a talent ad she nurtured it despite the fact that, in her simplicity, she stood out from the other contestants who used every artifice known to improve their appearances for the show.
The reaction of the world to her singing shows that we can recognise real talent when we hear it. Despite all the modern influences it appears we still recognise the real thing when it comes our way. The reaction of the judges showed how shallow they are and how much they are influenced by appearances. Susan Boyle reached deep into us and touched us in a way no glamorous, made-up artiste could. She sang from the soul and in a world where money sometimes seems all that matters it was good to get back to basics. Standing there completely unadorned here message was simple. She was telling us to take her as she was. She was saying, unashamedly, “I am me”.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

What’s wrong with listening to the birds? Why won’t we speak to one and other any more? What has caused the lack of communication we have today? The answer is simple everyone is too busy listening to their Ipods to have any connection with the real world.
Do they realise how stupid they look at they go glassy eyed down the street? Do they know how much they are missing? They don’t hear the postman’s cheery whistle or their neighbour’s “Good morning”. It’s dangerous too. They don’t hear the traffic and could easily have an accident crossing the road. They are so busy listening they don’t even have time to think.
That is not to say that we shouldn’t listen to music. Certainly it’s more polite to listen to an Ipod than to carry a blaring radio. There is still, though, a time and a place for everything. Music should be listened to at home or at a concert or show, not on the bus or on the sidewalk.  Ipod users look like spacemen listening to orders from another planet.
Beam them up Scotty they don’t want to belong here.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

What do you say when it’s been said before? Finding the right words for a second or subsequent wedding is difficult. There are no go areas, people who mustn’t be mentioned and often, children whose feelings are fraught. The groom at a second or subsequent wedding has to be very careful indeed not to upset his new bride. Sometimes he may be a widower and sometimes he may be divorced and the words he uses have to reflect the exact situation. He may, for instance, have his deceased wife’s parents present because he has had a long and happy relationship with them. On the other hand the only reminder of his divorce may be the fact that his children are present. So it is very important that his speech is gracious and doesn’t offend anyone. It is probably wiser to ask someone who knows the background and who is very tactful to hear his speech and point out any obvious blunders before the big day.
Second wedding speeches by a friend are also subject to the same constraint. In fact it’s like walking on a minefield and you certainly don’t want to set off any explosives.
Your speech should be sincere and very general and refer to the future rather than the past. In other words it should be about wishing the couple every happiness in the years to come without referring to previous weddings or previous spouses.
More and more people are re-marrying and if you have to speak at the wedding remember to be careful about what you say. Short and sweet says it all.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

There is now a pampered pet in the White House. Bo will be exercised and loved and given all the food and medical treatment a dog could possibly need. What though of other animals? How much do we care about them? What, for instance, is our opinion of zoos? Should we really keep wild animals in captivity? Do we ever discuss this subject with others or with our children or do we simply see the zoo as a place for a day out with the family?
We should be kinder to animals. Animal welfare should be our concern. After all they are living, breathing creatures just like us. They give comfort and companionship to old and young alike. They act as guard dogs in our homes and are very useful at airports and prisons sniffing out drugs. They help trace lost children and where would the blind be without their guide dogs? The animal kingdom is part of our world and we should respect it just as we should respect the environment. We all know now the consequences of not doing that. Animals don’t affect the ozone layer or cut down the rain forests. We could learn a lot from them.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook

In the recessionary times many people find it hard to sleep. They are worrying about their jobs, their mortgages and their families Insomnia can make your life hell. When you get up in the morning you find it hard to cope with the problems of a new day.  You may suffer from depression. A trip to the doctor may not get you a new job but it can help and you should consult your medical advisor quickly because lack of sleep and depression lead to a vicious cycle of deeper depression and even less sleep.
Having a plan of action is probably the best way of all to cope with such problems. If you have lost your job you may find it difficult to find another in your own field. Can you re-train or go back to education? You might consider setting up your own business or emigrating to another country. You might decide to go into partnership with a friend. Perhaps you would consider leaving the city for a place in the country or visa versa. Maybe you will try something completely new or use a hobby to create a new kind of work. Maybe you write songs for instance. Now is the time to try to sell them.
So get medical help, try counselling, and make decisions. It’s your life. Take it in your own hands and hopefully you’ll be so tired with all your new activities that you’ll sleep the round of the clock.

Check out our sample speeches

Share on Facebook