The Things I Carried Out Walcott

The biggest struggle I’ve had to overcome is a personal one. No, I did not have to raise myself out of poverty or stand up to any injustice being committed but for me at least it was a struggle. When I was little I had a terrible stutter/speech impediment or whatever you want to call it. Think of the guy from The Kings Speech but less Royal and without an academy award. I would speak too fast, with a stream of partial words and syllables pouring out of my mouth occasionally tripping up and stopping and stuttering mid-sentence. As you could imagine I was socially inept with no real friends to speak of. And don’t even get me started with girls because that’s a whole failures essay on its own. I had a speech therapist named Mary who confirmed the fear of having a doctor who graduated at the bottom of their class. The sessions were pointless and for all the years in which I endured them I did not improve one iota. After several years of this I gave up. I had resigned to my fate of a life of social mediocrity. This went on for years with the only thing changing would be my increasing waistline and ever increasing volumes of classic literature, films and cookie dough pop tarts consumed in all of my spare time. But all hope was not lost. In my middle school gym class which as you can guess, the combination of socialization and exercise was the bane of my existence, there was this girl (I couldn't believe it either) who actually talked to me and could wade through the gushing rapids full of rocks and words and stuttering make sense of what I was saying and respond. I became infatuated and through months of therapy, meditation and medication I finally got the courage to ask her out on a date. She said “no” I said “why?” and she said “Because you’re fat and you …show more content…
After a few weeks of intense self-pity and numerous packets of pop tarts I saw myself and in the mirror and I said “M-m-maybe s-she’s right”. I decided not for her but for me that I needed to improve myself. Later on I was watching ESPN they were showing a documentary about Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. They showed his fight against Jersey Joe Walcott that won him the championship and the two punch combination that knocked out Walcott. The speed, intensity and the confidence in his ability that shone through the grainy black and white footage in my TV told me that’s what I wanted to do. Take up boxing. At that time I was getting my butt handed to me on a regular basis by some other kids and nothing appealed to me more than boxing’s “sweet science” that would teach me confidence and the ability to stand up for myself and to fight back. Also losing a few pounds didn’t hurt either. To fix my speech I had this book full of Presidential speeches that I would read out loud trying to match the dictation and tone of the speaker. Addresses like JFK’s inauguration and FDR’s “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech taught me how to form words and say them clearly. I also memorized movie scenes like all of Samuel L Jackson’s lines from Pulp Fiction or Charley Chaplin’s speech in the great dictator to help with my vocal presence and confidence speaking. From boxing led to lifting and wrestling and my speaking