Taylor's Law School Debate!

WOW!

It was totally worth staying back a couple of extra hours today! I had the honour of watching the finals of...

the Taylor's Law School Debate!

And all I can say is... WOW!

The debaters were fantastic! All of them were 1st or 2nd year students at Taylor's Law School (twinning with University of Reading, UK) -- the motion was "Should Freedom of Speech Be Limited?".. it was an explosive, eloquent, and highly enjoyable debate. I wasn't bored for a moment!

You see, the thing with inter-secondary school debates was that the teams usually consisted of 1 or 2 good speakers only. Usually, one or two would just drone on and on, and lose the audience's attention in a matter of 30 seconds or so. But today, all three speakers on each team were brilliant. They spoke like winners of public-speaking competitions. And all of them had very different styles, and I realised that my style of speaking was a lot like the style of the girl on the opposition team. And that, truly, served as my inspiration & motivation.

I always thought, hmm what if I can't speak as eloquently as the real lawyers? What if I can't think logically & rationally on my feet? What if I'm just not cut out to take up law? But after watching the debate today, I realised - hey, debaters are just normal people too! They're students, like you and me -- they prepare their speeches, they read off cue cards, their voices & hands tremble a little... we don't ALL have to be breathtakingly, alarmingly fabulous at speaking just to be a good lawyer! :D

It's not that I feel more assured of my decision to take up law because I realised lawyers don't have to be perfect speakers. I feel more confident now, because I realise that it's a learning process. I may not be ready to deliver impromptu speeches or cook up humorous rebuttals right at this moment, but I have the chance to be that good someday. I've only just begun college less than two months ago, and I still have all year to improve on myself as a public-speaker, debater, writer & most of all, as a person.

I feel that it was really worth staying back to watch the debate. It was even held in a mooting court. Wha wha wha. Loved the setting. Love the challenge! Can't wait to take up law! XD