Ridgewood Toastmasters International group opens lines of communication
OCTOBER 1, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014, 10:10 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The topic was “excellence.”
Speakers had one minute to give an impromptu speech on the subject, guided only by a famous quote.
After his name was pulled randomly from a jar, one young man wearing running shorts got up nervously to the podium in the front of nearly 30 other people, of all ages, sitting in a back room of The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood last Tuesday night.
Mahwah resident Joseph Liberatore, a personal trainer who was only at his second Ridgewood Toastmasters meeting, silently re-read the Greek poet Hesiod’s quote about “badness.”
“Badness you can get easily, in quantity; the road is smooth, and it lies close by, but in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it.”
“When you’re sitting alone, and you’re just trying to think of nothing, bad thoughts can stream into your mind…” he began.
By the time he was done, with the ding of a bell – 1 minute and 23 seconds later – he leaned over, laughed and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Jitters,” he said, as he walked back to his seat.
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