I’m so very proud of Evening Toastmasters, Club 3802, which I happened to start back in 1991. Our first meetings were held at tiny Live Oak Public Library, located on Distant Memory Lane. What a trip!

The above photo of friend Daniel Jadick shows how it is done — one speech at a time.

A group of us went on to start Coast Toasties with Reasons (previously Green Toastmasters) not long after Evening Toastmasters gaining its apparently quite solid footing, as this club has lasted and thrived heading into its third decade! Being somewhat addicted to the “need to seed” we also started Santa Cruz-based Advanced Toastmasters for those of us who needed extra time to learn how to talk good.

I recall one of our members, dear Linda Johnson, wearing a button that said it all: “I live, eat, sleep and breathe Toastmasters.”

At some point we all “graduated” back into the real world of working with our improved communication and leadership skills. I competed in numerous Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation contests, which deepened nascent skills, while making us contestants briefly but extremely nervous. Why did we do it? I’m still not entirely clear to this day, but I guess it made us stronger. Better able to face up to “moment of truth” challenges like these, deal with authority figures, communicate with others who may disagree agree with us, but will remain respective, and to learn to rely on our own authority without fainting or triggering aggressive or rude behavior (adrenalin has a way of making many people, well, edgy and provocative).

Toastmasters also makes us better equipped to be full, ethical, connected and skillful human beings, particularly important “at a time like this.”

We celebrate all those who have endured certain fear and likely embarrassment standing and delivering to groups of supportive strangers, who “tell it like it is” through the critiques, and urge us to learn, keep going, practice and do better, where public speaking is apparently about making less a fool of yourself over time. Once you have the basic skills in hand, then mastery comes from stripping away all the unnecessary affectations to become your best self.

As you already know, the fear of public speaking ranks toward the top on the list of things humans fear the most. Or at least that was the case before COVID, before we experienced new lows in derisive national politics, street protests and wildfire outbreaks, all layered on top of fundamental existential threats due to excess heat, smoke, and climate change causing chaos and havoc near you.

It is just a matter of time before things improve here in the fall of 2020, because they certainly will not stay the same. That is perhaps the only thing we can count on, and thus a saving grace — the human spirit and laws of nature combine to show us that gnarly systemic problems are highly unstable, bound to change, and with more and more of us rowing in a similar direction, going to “change for good.”

This gives many of us a sense of purpose. A calling. Climate change and other issues that may have started with a whisper — far enough into the imagined future that we could just keep on doing whatever we were doing — but this year, forces have gathered into one big-ass and contemptuous storm, imperfectly, impossibly, and dramatically showing us the way. If you thought Katrina was a wakeup call, we clearly had no idea of what would follow, with nature now yelling at the top of her metaphorical lungs.

Hang in there. As will I. Don’t got it alone. Be part of groups and find people who support your vision and mission, and who will tell you the truth but with skill and compassion. Delete the toxic and embrace the love. That’s what makes room in your life for lasting happiness.

Thanks for all the great communication and leadership, past and future. Brighter days (and leaders) ahead!

Speech over.

Daniel, self-sequestered in Freedom, CA, 4 October 2020