Other People Matter because….

Keep thinking and write your comments below.

Ask the next person you meet if he/she believes Other People Matter.

Keep the conversation going.

And share.

It was fun this Friday the 13th at Imagine.

It was exhilarating to sit, listen, and appreciate for a couple of hours to some bright young minds standing on their own two feet to share their soft skills, manners, and behaviors with a panel of professionals about life issues.

I am so glad to have said “Yes” responding to a request from my fellow toastmaster Shakira Taylor, an office staff at Imagine, to be part of the volunteers to the inaugural ‘Power of Positivity’ for 5th grader students.

I didn’t know what to expect from this adventure. I was anxious about what to do, how to dress, and the best way to fullfill my role.

It turned out to be a great learning experience for the whole community including the school faculty, the students, and the volunteers.

What’s the Power of Positivity? 

Teaching students manners, discipline, respect, and how to conduct him or herself in a professional environment are all an important part of our academic program. At Imagine Elementary at North Lauderdale, students learn the mechanics of a proper handshake and working the room so that they are able to present themselves exceptionally well for opportunities today and in the future.

The day begins with about 25 business professionals here at Imagine Elementary at North Lauderdale.  Each student has to go through an obstacle course, spending 1 minute interacting with each professional.  When the student walks away, the professionals score the child based on handshake firmness, eye contact, confidence, common sense, etc.  

At the end of the day, the top 20 students will be told that they will continue on to Round 2 that will take place in the new year. They will have the opportunity to visit a business where they have to interact with more professionals. Those professionals will name the top 8. Round 3 will be another opportunity for our students to utilize their skills and our top winner will be announced.

I listen to almost 50 students telling me in a PSA (Public Service Annoucement) why they think “other people matter.”

Some were better than others. But, all were above “unsatisfactory,” from a scale of 1 to 4. They are almost the same age, but different in size, color, appearance, and performance.

I stood up to strech my legs curled up under the little table. To release from my cramps, I took a walking to the restroom. Standing in the hall, I met Joshua. He locked his eyes to mine, smiled, told me his name, paused, handed me a firm handshake, and asked for my name.

“I’m Roosevelt,” I told him.

“That’s a nice name,” Joshua replied adding “That’s a President Name.”

He asked me if I speak Creole. I told him “yes,” and he said “Sak Pase?”

Joshua rushed back to find his classmates standing in line to make their tour.

At the end, the Principal, Sharon Bailey, reported what she said she has heard from the kids.

“They are excited,” she said.

“Some are eager to move to round 2 and win some gift cards,” she added inviting us, volunteers, to walk one by one on a red carpet to receive a “small token of appreciation” for our community service.

We laughed out loud when each one of us was called to walk, wave, and receive our certificate under the spotlight of the cameras and cellphones.

This surely has been a wonderful, and fun Friday the 13th at Imagine!

It was a delight to listen to my friend and fellow toastmaster Gaia Calcaterra share her Holloween story at the recent humorous speech contest in Fort Lauderdale. I am enthralled to have her permission to share the content of her speech with you.

Have a good read, and laugh.

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With all the political turmoil in the world these days, I wanted to highlight THE most pre-occupying issue at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment……and that is…. HALLOWEEN!

Mr President, fellow witches, werewolves and most distinguished pumpkin carvers,
I have lived and travelled all over the world and have witnessed many strange rituals and celebrations, but I assure you, nothing confuses me and is more peculiar to me than Halloween in the US!

AND apparently, I am not alone….

My story started when I arrived in the US 10 years ago, from South Africa, just in time to see people taking down giant inflatable snow globes or Santas in a helicopters off their roofs.

Then a few months later the giant inflatable bunnies appeared out of nowhere in front yards, after that, lots of little US flags….all good, but nothing prepared me for Halloween!
The first disturbing sign happened one day as I walked into the Home Depot. Where the patio furniture section was is now a zombie apocalypse!  Pirate skeletons, mechanical witches, green flashing eyes, AND boxes full of body parts for $9.99.

 Bargain!

 I’ll take 4 severed feet please.

“What was going on here?”
I turned to a gentleman in an orange apron cutting keys…
“Excuse me sir, what’s going on here?” 
“It’s for Halloween, Ma’am”. 
“Yes, but what’s if for?”
“To decorate your yard!”
“Why would you pay money to have this in your yard?”
“Not sure Ma’am.  Anything else, I can help you with?”

I left the store that day, certain that there were hundreds of workers in a factory in China somewhere, puzzled by the exact same question.
Then, a few days later, I went out on my daily walk through the neighborhood, turned the corner and I came to a screeching halt! 
As if by black magic, the corner house was completely transformed into a graveyard, complete with plastic tombstones.
 I read them:

“Here lies Fred, he is dead” – Who is Fred?
“Here lies Chris P. Bacon”  – Who the heck is Crispy Bacon?

On the porch, cobwebs everywhere (finally the ones at my house didn’t look out of place).
And the biggest hairiest spider I have ever seen. 
Now, I’ve been known to buy frivolous thing. But giant plastic spiders?  No.
Swaying gently from the tree, the skeleton of a little girl with pig tails holding her starving skeletal dog!
This was SO weird and very disturbing!

More houses started to pop up over the next few days.   I kept asking, but no one seemed to know why. The answer was always the same:  “It’s for Halloween,” or “It’s for trick or treating”.  No one seemed to be clear on the “why.”

I started to give up. The night of Halloween caught me completely off guard.
I was at home and heard a knock on the door.
I opened and was met by a lady bug and a Minion.
“Yes?”
“Trick or treat!” they screamed
“Excuse me?”
They looked at each other puzzled.
The Minion said “give us candy or we’ll play a trick on you.”
“Ah! Okay…hold on.” 

I ran to my empty kitchen and found two melted, sticky mints from a restaurant and a banana that was turning brown.  I had no other choice.
I presented it to Lady Bug and Minion.
They weren’t impressed.
“I don’t think she understands,” the one said to the other. They shrugged their shoulders and left.
Victory!  They were gone.
But the victory was short lived.
There were more coming up the roadin droves!
I darted around the house as fast as possible, turned off all the lights, the TV and took a dive onto the floor by the couch, just in time for the next  group yelling“trick or treat!”
Silence…
“We know you’re in there!  We saw the lights on AND your car is outside!”
I laid silent on the carpet in the dark, heart pounding.  They finally gave up and left.

I didn’t leave my spot for the rest of the night, which gave me a lot of time to think about how and why I was on the floor in darkness celebrating the most peculiar and  confusing holiday in the world!

Happy Halloween!

Madam Contest Chair!

_______________________

Gaia Calcaterra

Division B speech Contest

District 47

Fort Lauderdale

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Yes, I am excited, enchanted, and thrilled to participate in the next LIFE UNIVERSITY Convention wich will be held from Thursday October 24th, to Sunday October 27th, 2019 in UTAH, Michigan, and New York.

I will be attending the one in Albany, NY. But, some of my friends will be in UTAH, and Michigan.

New York Times bestselling authors Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, creators and curators of the life superapp platform, will be keynote speakers at these three locations.

This will be an “amazing life changing event,” they said in a video conference call broadcasted globally at a thousand locations for active field leaders who are promoters of the superapp platform and the business matchmaker concept.

We are going to have fun, learn in details about the super app platform, and will also have an opportunity to meet leaders who are on the field building communities of people who have the vision to live the life they’ve always wanted.

Woodward defines vision as “tomorrow’s reality expressed as an idea today.”

“When you have a possibility to define your vision, your full success depends on your ability to be totally in sync with your vision as it becomes your today’s reality, as if you can’t stand the thought of another reality,” he said.

“It’s not because conditions change leaders lead. It’s because leaders lead that conditions change,” Woodward told the leaders attending the call.

This leadership convention though the super app concept aims at creating a culture of visionaries who start imagining where they’re going.

Instead of looking for what is, the people who win look for what will be and start racing in that direction to change the world.

This convention is one piece of the super app platform to team up with visionaries to make their vision a reality and get ready to set the world on fire.

Oct. 25-27 will be much more than a weekend away from home. This LIFE UNIVERSITY Convention will provide the right foundation for the community to create a long-term, sustainable, and successful business through the superapp platform.

Life’s top leaders will take the stage and provide increased belief and inspiration, in-depth training, and a true picture for you to visualize the LIFE that you’ve always wanted to live.

Thousands of people will be in attendance at the different locations. For more details, you can download the superapp here to have your own experience of this major convention event that I can’t describe in words.

A ticket is required for admission and is available in advance at a discounted price on the superapp platform.

Test….