The Best of the 2015 Cicero Speechwriting Awards
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1 VITAL SPEECHES of the day 2015 EDITION THESE VITAL SPEECHES THE BEST OF THE 2015 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS 33 “Building a Culture of Health in America,” by Tanya Barrientos for Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, President and CEO, Robert GRAND AWARD Wood Johnson Foundation 2 “Wayne’s Story—Eradicating Poverty in Canada,” written and delivered by Dana Robbins, Vice President and Group Publisher, 37 “We Are Third,” by Maximillian Potter for John W. Hickenlooper, Metroland Media Group Governor, Colorado 39 “Building Cities on a Foundation of Cooperation,” by Bill Bryant for Myron Gray, President, U.S. Operations, UPS CATEGORY WINNERS 42 “Preventing the Boom,” by Antonie van Campen for Tom 4 “Disruptive Aging,” by Boe Workman for Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO, Middendorp, Chief of Defence, the Netherlands AARP 44 “When You Come to a Fork in the Road, TAKE IT!” by Teresa 6 “The Strength to Dance,” by Ken Askew for Masashi Oka, CEO for Zumwald for Chad Delligatti, President, InnoSource the Americas, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ; President and CEO MUFG Union Bank 46 “Forever, Go Blue,” by Kim Clarke for Mary Sue Coleman, President, University of Michigan 9 “Pittsburgh Chemical Day Keynote,” by Jeff Porro for George Biltz, Chief Strategy Officer, Axiall Corporation 47 “Honoring Those on Eternal Patrol,” by Greg Lemon, for Joe Heck, U.S. Representative (R-Nev.) 12 “Manufacturing Leadership: President’s Report,” by Chrys Kefalas for Jay Timmons, President and CEO, National 49 “It’s Our Company Now,” written and delivered by John Santoro, Association of Manufacturers Senior Director and Executive Speechwriter, Pfizer 15 “Fan into Flame Your Writing Gift,” written and delivered by 53 “Claire Davis Memorial,” by Maximillian Potter, for John W. Judith E. Ingram, Author, A Devotional Walk with Forgiveness Hickenlooper, Governor, Colorado 17 “Silver Bullet Playbook: Rewarding Excellence in Clinical Trials,” 54 “To Believe We Can Do Anything,” by Kim Clarke for Mark S. by John Santoro for Freda Lewis-Hall, MD, Executive Vice Schlissel, President, University of Michigan President and Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer Inc. 57 “2014 State of the Society Address,” by Larae Booker for Henry 19 “Change the Status Quo,” by Teresa Zumwald for Chad Delligatti, (Hank) Jackson, President & CEO, Society for Human Resource President, InnoSource Management 21 “Rap on Trial,” by Barbara Seymour Giordano for Charis Kubrin, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine 23 “The Hispanic Contribution to Oregon: A Story,” by Roy HONORABLE MENTION Kaufmann for John A. Kitzhaber, Governor, Oregon “A New Utility Business Model for a Sustainable Energy Future,” by Zachary Narrett for Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and CEO, PSEG 25 “Skills for the Future,” by Marloes Telle for Jet Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, the Netherlands “Somebody Just Like You,” by Janet Stovall Harrell for Forest T. Harper, CEO, INROADS 28 “Solving the Carbon Problem Together,” by Douglas Neff for Roger Sant, Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus, AES Corporation “Lose and Learn,” written and delivered by Laurel Kallen for Hazel Dukes, President, NAACP New York State Conference CICERO 2015 2 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS GRAND AWARD WINNER “Wayne’s Story—Eradicating Poverty in Canada” Written and delivered by Dana Robbins, Delivered to the Hamilton Speakers Bureau, Vice President and Group Publisher, Metroland Media Group Hamilton, Ontario, April 1, 2014 ayne was my best friend through My own family was of modest, even I no longer make that claim because Wmost of my boyhood. humble, means, but Wayne’s family re- as challenged as my family’s fortunes He had an easy laugh. And it was sided one entire, precarious rung lower may have been, my own experience effortless to like him. on the social ladder. bears little resemblance to the experi- We were the same age, but Wayne I don’t think Wayne had more than ence of poverty today. was always the leader of our small one pair of jeans in all of the years that It’s never been good to be poor. Be- band, having mastered all the skills that I knew him. And he was always hun- ing poor has always been the short end boys deem essential: gry, shamelessly scrounging leftovers of society’s stick. • He could play Smoke on the Water from friends. “Do you got anything to But the truth is that to experience on his guitar; eat?” was his standard greeting. poverty in contemporary Canadian o And I still think that’s cool. At home, there was no running wa- society is to experience a poverty that is • He could fillet a fish with a jack ter, no toilet, sometimes no heat. Worst particularly corrosive and marginalizing. knife; of all, there was never any hope. There are many reasons why being o And I still think that’s pretty cool. Wayne knew, at an age when a child poor today is worse than it was when • And, most impressively, he could should not have such wisdom, how I was growing up. But I think a couple perfectly imitate the sounds of the fragile is life. factors are worth noting here. most obscene bodily functions; Of the many sins that can be laid at One is the increasing polarization of o And, for sure, I still think that’s poverty’s door, surely none is greater Canadian society. For many Canadians especially cool. than the vulnerability it instills in those of my generation, whether you were I thought Wayne was the coolest guy who have been brutalized by it; that growing up poor, rich or somewhere in the world. nagging, sometimes suffocating, fear in-between you almost certainly regu- For all that, and despite his standing that everything you have can be taken larly rubbed shoulders with folks of in our boyhood pantheon, there was al- from you. other social stripes. ways something tentative about Wayne. As a child, I thought that Wayne’s When the dentist’s son turned 8, I It was almost as if he was never quite place in the world was unfair. I now was invited to his birthday party; I was certain that he was as much of a hero appreciate that it was much worse than invited even though my Dad worked in to us as was obvious to everyone else, that. It was scandalous. And it was an the mine and we lived in a trailer. And or that he even belonged in our group. indictment of the community in which no one would have thought anything Like a dog that’s been cuffed once we both lived. odd about that. too often, Wayne was oftentimes suspi- In Hamilton, we, too, stand accused. That social interaction, that cohe- cious of an outstretched hand. And More than 22,000 Hamilton chil- sion, is appreciably less common today, you sometimes had the sense that he dren live in poverty, almost 8,000 of especially in the large cities where most fully expected his friends to one day them under the age of 6. That means of us live, where it’s quite possible for abandon him. that 1 out of 4 of our youngest, most a poor child to have no meaningful As we one day would. vulnerable citizens are being taught the contact with anyone other than other I’ve told Wayne’s story before; at one lessons that Wayne learned: poor children. point I shared it with Spectator readers. • That the world is mostly indiffer- I think it’s hard for most people to But I thought I would retell his story to- ent to them; understand how small your world can day because so much of my own think- • That they are not deserving of be when you are a poor child growing ing about poverty started with Wayne. anything better; up in poor neighbourhood. And, also, because I know in my • And that what little they have can I think the second factor aggravating heart that all wisdom, no matter how be taken from them. contemporary poverty is a bit harder modest, starts with the telling of sto- I used to tell people that I grew up to get our intellectual arms around but ries. And that, of course, is what has poor. I’m embarrassed to admit that speaks volumes to the marginalization being asked of you. now. I feel a bit like the guy who reads of poor people. Wayne was a poor kid in the poorest a book review than pretends to have I’m talking about the increase in neighbourhood of a very poor town. read the actual book. personal wealth in Canadian society VSOTD.COM 3 over the past two generations. So much I see it in my own kids. obstacle with the generations that pre- affluence, so much conspicuous con- They are smart, thoughtful young ceded them. sumption, that Canadian society is, at people—compassionate and easily The experience of people in middle- times, almost unrecognizable to me. moved, motivated by sound values. But age, people of my generation, who have How does that make poverty more poverty is as foreign a landscape to them known poverty—even tangentially—in corrosive? as the lunar surface. their own lives, distorts their percep- It’s the juxtaposition, I suppose. A while back, my then 16-year-old tion and understanding of poverty in With apologies to Charles Dickens daughter was complaining about how contemporary Canadian society. and Scrooge, ‘It is when abundance miserable her life is under her parents’ In many cases, it gives people of my rejoices that want is felt most keenly.’ reign of terror. generation a misplaced confidence that I’m not saying it’s easier to be poor “I wish I had grown up when you they understand poverty.