Juhi and I

TAKEKOSHI Chie

"Chie, please keep only one thing in your mind. You don't have to crane for the prizes. Don't aim at winning. The most important thing is to take part in the contest. Do you see what I mean?"

This was what Juhi said to me the day before the speech contest. Juhi is an assistant language teacher at Kitano High School. She is also an advisor of the English Speaking Society which I belong to. Her words are always tender, so my heart gets warmed. Her generosity touches my heart, I'm very happy to meet Juhi. I have been cheered up by her many times. When she saw that I was tired and was not in a good mood, she addressed me after the class,"What's wrong with you, Chie? Do you have any problem? What can I do for you? I'll help you as much as I can. So please tell me if you have some problem."At that time I relaxed, Juhi gave me a peace of mind.

This time Juhi helped me with my speech contest. On the previous day she said, "Are you worried about your speech? If not, maybe you'll be worried about it tomorrow. But remember this is your first time to participate in a speech contest. So whether you win or not, it doesn't matter. But I'm sure you will do your best." When she said that, I thought,"How great she is!"I wondered why she could touch me with such heart warming words. She might also have a lot of anxieties with herself, and yet she could afford to share my problem. I was so moved.

The day came, Juhi smiled at me and said,"Take it easy. Relax. Don't forget to keep on smiling. Everyone loves to see people smiling."Thanks to Juhi, I didn't feel nervous in front of the big audience and I could do whatever I wanted to. I could have eye contact with the audience, recite all my speech without any mistakes and keep on smiling. After the speech, I said to myself,"I did it!"I felt a kind of satisfaction. I was refreshed a lot.

When the winners were announced, I was very shocked to know that my name was not among. I comforted myself,"This was my first trial. It doesn't matter whether I win a prize or not."But I was very very sad."I'm sorry."I said to Juhi. Then she said,"You said'I'm sorry.'But who is disappointed? No one is. You don't have to apologize to anyone for anything."I was surprised to hear these unexpected words. She continued,"You did well. Your pronunciation was good. So this was a good experience for you. What I'm worrying about you is that you think you are not a good speaker of English. But you are. So forget everything today. Next time they may choose your speech."

On the way home, I thought about Juhi. She didn't say bad things about my speech like; "You are inferior to others in this point." or "You should reflected on these points."She never mentioned bad points of my speech. Instead, she made me think what I can do in the future and proceed toward the future. That's why I didn't worry about the result and became cool. Her encouraging words are a spur to my future success. Now I feel"I can do it next time!" Juhi helped me to be a stronger girl.

Juhi, I want to say one thing. You are always giving many people warmth, strength and the energy to overcome their difficulties. Thank you for coming to Kitano High School, Juhi.