Credo

Link to Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1a0VEfZVfOJHu7h5my4K31ACqLxg4QrV23D5yD2FtxVE/edit?usp=sharing

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Moral: WATCH YOUR WORDS and be conscious of your changing habits, because they will come back to bite you

Script:

Back in 7th grade, in Mrs. Dewitt’s class, there was a dumb kid who accidentally swore in front of the entire class. And this is why, as a people, we must be careful, watching our words and being conscious of our changing habits, because they will come back to bite you.

When I was in 7th grade, I thought I could be cool by swearing. But, at the same time, I was a good girl and did not want to get in trouble with any of my teachers because that was just my personality. So, I swore only in my head, through text, or only with people I was very comfortable with. 

Over text, I was the most profane person I knew. I would either type the whole word out, or to be a little more PG, I would use asterisk so it wouldn’t look too bad. Sometimes, I’d use acronyms too! So yeah I was actually pretty dumb and very two faced. 

Do you all remember the 7th grade humanities fair we had to do to bring awareness to social justice issues? We had to make boards and stuff, and we had like 6 class periods to work on them. So I was pretty proud of my board, and all I had left to do was to tape it together. 

Our class was usually pretty loud in these sessions. Like, everyone would be talking, and one single thing you said would not be heard. So, I wasn’t really careful with my words, expecting no one would hear them.

Remember how I talked about how swearing was a habit for me? This was a habit that was new, and it was going to come back to bite me. And this was how it happened.

I was taping up my board, and suddenly, my arm twitched, and the entire piece of tape went flying off the board. And of course, at this moment, the class was conveniently dead silent. This was juuuust perfect for me. 

Then, as my tape was flying off the board, anger, confusion, sadness, and all emotions you could possibly imagine entered my head. And naturally, because of my habits, I did the inevitable, in front of the entire class.

I swore. I said the un-PG version of, “shoot”, which means poop. And the whole class was silent enough to hear what I said, and everything I’d ever built my reputation for just crashed and crumbled down into nothing. 

The moment I said that, I was shocked at what profanities just gushed out of my mouth. Everyone, at least in my head, looked up, and they were probably shocked too. And Mrs. Dewitt told me to put my name on the board.

According to the ICS secondary handbook, I was supposed to get a detention for what I did. But Mrs. Dewitt liked me, so I was subject to a mere check mark instead. My first check mark of middle school. 

So I did the walk of shame up to the board. On my way up, a certain guy who left the school said to me, “Yiu Yiu, I didn’t know you swore!!” I shook my head. Other people said, “wow, I didn’t expect that from her.” 

After that happened, I mentally decided that swearing wasn’t even cool anymore. I was so embarrassed about what I did that I went silent, hiding my embarrassment behind a smile. I wrote my name on the board and went back to my seat.

Then, I overheard someone say, “Only people who don’t swear can’t control a swear word coming out of their mouths”. Which I guess, in a way was true. I rarely swore in real life, but instead my head, over text, etc. So I couldn’t control it.

It came back to bite me! The changing habits that I built up came back to bite me, and now, thinking back, it’s kind of funny, but not worth it. What I did left a lasting impression on everyone and I realized that we don’t have much control for the consequences that we face. 

So, I sat back down in my seat, ripped off the tape, and carefully tried to tape it back on, making sure to keep my mouth shut this time around. I was not going to say anything that I didn’t want to say. 

Swearing was a bad habit for me, and it was a gradual habit that I developed overtime that I was aware of, but didn’t really care to change for. And because I wasn’t aware, the habit just revealed itself at the most inopportune time. 

I would like to think that this was all part of a plan! If this never happened, I would still be like my 7th grade self today. And this situation, probably in a different context, would have had happened probably in high school, where it would probably be worse. 

So what I’m trying to tell you is that you have to be conscious of your changing habits, especially if they’re bad! And the earlier you fix them, the better, because if you don’t, they’ll come back to bite you. 

Here are my image sources because I’m lazy and can’t take my own pictures!

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Reflection:

Although I had a script, I strayed off the script a lot when doing my actual presentation, but I think it was for the best. It was more true to the heart when I improvised. When I first heard about this assignment, I remember immediately thinking that it was the worst of both worlds. Soon, though, I realized that it would be a really fun assignment. Telling a sort of embarrassing story that was also funny in front of the entire class on a time crunch was extremely stressful, but it gave a positive adrenaline rush. The reactions I got while doing the presentation made up for all the stress I felt and I found that this was actually a really fun unit. I also enjoyed watching everybody else’s presentations!