DON’T CHOOSE TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY!!!(My third speech which i delivered in toastmasters club)

                Most of you…. present here…. at some time or another… must have given a presentation here at black and veatch and hopefully must have ended up with a safety tip… How many of you …have really given… that safety tip… for the purpose of creating awareness amongst other professionals and make their life safer..or did you add that particular slide ….only because.. it is customary practice in black and veatch? Have you ever noticed a wrong and unsafe practice going  around you ? did you take an action to correct it or did you  just went off thinking its not your job….have you ever faced an accident big or small just because you had been careless even after receiving a warning…

Toastmasters and fellow orators ….today.. I am going to let you know how small actions …taken by you.. to correct some precarious things going around you is important, through a small incident …which happened few months back..

Me and my dad were on the way to a shop when we saw a driver of a petroleum tanker cooking food inside the vehicle . he had kept the small portable stove with a gas canister besides the drivers seat ..the sight of flame inside an oil tanker made my dad stop and caution that driver “whatever you are doing is extremely dangerous..” …the driver said “oh come on..! nothing will happen..”…dad suggested him..”why cant you simply cook food out side”….’the driver didn’t answer…and made a face as if trying to convey “mind your own business”…we walked away letting the driver work in danger… My father told me…”to warn..to inform is our duty” the person may not listen to us now…maybe he will be get warning from some other person again….then also he may not listen….but the third time he gets a warning atleat some awareness will hit his mind and he may realise the ramifications of his action…..so our duty to inform, to warn does play a role,,,,he said to me….”imagine that if we hadn’t warned that person, even if the thought came to our mind….and unfournately if the something wrong had happened…the thought would have always haunted us throughout our life…”only if I had warned that person that day”……so it is our prime responsibility to tell and correct people if we notice something wrong going around us .. As soon as you see a mistake and don't fix it, it becomes your mistake. IF you cant fix the mistake atleat give it a try.

Not only we should go and correct others but also we should incorporate safe habits in our daily lives. For most of us.. including me ..helmets are like an entry pass to commerzone. But it should not be like that because somebody has rightly said …If safety is a joke, then death is the punchline.… we should make it a practice to wear helmet not only while coming to commerzone but also evrytime we drive a two wheeler..You should first make safety your convention then you should insist others for doing the same.

I would like to conclude my speech with a poem written by don merrel. The title of the poem is

                                                                                    

I CHOSE TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY

It goes like this..

I could have saved a life that day,

But I chose to look the other way.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care;

I had the time, and I was there.

But I didn’t want to seem a fool,

Or argue over a safety rule.

I knew he’d done the job before;

If I spoke up he might get sore.

The chances didn’t seem that bad;

I’d done the same, he knew I had.

So I shook my head and walked by;

He knew the risks as well as I.

He took the chance, I closed an eye;

And with that act, I let him die.

I could have saved a life that day,

But I chose to look the other way.

Now every time I see his wife,

I know I should have saved his life.

That guilt is something I must bear;

But isn’t’ something you need to share.

If you see a risk that others take

That puts their health or life at stake,

The question asked or thing you say;

Could help them live another day.

If you see a risk and walk away,

Then hope you never have to say,

“I could have saved a life that day,

But I chose to look the other way.”

….

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