A Painting and a Plate

INTRODUCTION

Good Evening! Has anybody seen this piece of art work? (show picture 1 - A Parisian Life)

Well, this is just a picture but it is of a painting of a scene inside a café in Paris sometime in
the 19th Century. Is there anyone familiar with it?

Juan Luna Painting Controversy

Ok, maybe this will refresh your memory. Five years ago, the present GSIS President,
Winston Garcia, received so much intense criticism for purchasing this painting for 46 million
pesos from Christie’s Auction in Hong Kong. The painting is entitled “A Parisian Life” by
Juan Luna.

It shows a lady who looks uneasy in a Café being ogled by 3 gentlemen from a corner. In his book
entitled, “Rizal without the Overcoat”, the historian Ambeth Ocampo says these 3 are actually: Juan
Luna himself, Dr. Ariston Bautista, and our national hero himself, Dr. Jose Rizal.

BODY

Tired and Hungry

This painting was done in 1892. Nine years before Juan Luna created this painting, he was working on
another painting, a huge one, in 1883. One night in that year, after a particularly exhausting evening
on this huge painting, Juan Luna decided to give himself a special treat. He went to an expensive
restaurant for dinner. A restaurant in those days would probably look like the one below:
There he ordered his favorite dishes.

After finishing his dinner, Juan Luna reached for his pockets for his purse so he could pay, but
there was nothing. He rummaged through his big studio bag, among the brushes the paints,
but no, he couldn’t find his purse.

“Ay Caramba!” he said, Juan Luna realized he left his purse at the studio. The waiter noticed
this and became suspicious. "Will this Indio be able to pay?", the waiter thought.

Ordering Beer

After a few minutes of thinking, Juan Luna struck on a brilliant idea. He motioned the snobbish waiter
to come over. “Señor, un momento, por favor”, he said. The waiter comes over with his napkin,
paper and pen.

With a raised eye brow, he asked, “Si, señor, que pasa?” Juan looks up to the waiter and said,
“Quiero cerveza, una cerveza por favor?” The waiter says "Bueno, un minuto!” To which Juan
answered, “Gracias, Señor.” And with that, the waiter went to the kitchen to get him a bottle of beer.

After being served the cerveza, Juan Luna put his big bag on the table. He positioned the bag so that
it concealed his dinner plate which was now empty. He took a servilleta, a napkin, and proceeded to
wipe the dinner plate clean and dry.

The Virtuoso Starts to Paint

He then took his palette, some brushes and special paints from his bag. And then, while very slowly
sipping on his beer, Juan Luna started painting on the dinner plate.

And what do you think did he paint on the dinner plate? Is it a portrait of a nearby beautiful
lady? A bunch of fruits displayed on the counter? No, he proceeded to paint money on the
dinner plate.

Juan Luna has been living in Madrid for 6 years and just from memory, he painted veinte
cinco pesetas bank notes on the dinner plate. This represented the bill or tab he owed to the
restaurant plus a few more for tips!

By the time he finished sipping his beer, the paint had dried and his dinner plate painting was
done. Below the money painting, he signed the dinner plate, as he always did – “JLUNA”.

Juan Luna wasn’t about to renege on his obligation and so he also left his business card (pull
out sample business card) – just in case the waiter decides to collect.

Hasty Exit
After seeing the waiter busy with the other tables, Juan quickly slipped out the door. Now, in those
days, it was quite customary to leave your payment on the table or on the dinner plate especially if
you didn’t expect change.

Upon seeing Juan leave, the waiter glanced at the plate and saw money on the dinner plate. Or so, he
thought!

When he went over to get the money, he was dumbfounded to see it was just a painting on the
dinner plate. But he was so impressed with the realistic rendition that he decided to keep the
dinner plate, never allowing utensils to touch or scratch it.

1884 Madrid Exposition

In the following year, 1884, the huge painting that Juan Luna was laboring on for 8 months
back at the studio was finished. It was entered in the 1884 Madrid Exposition and won the
Gold Medal. That huge painting was the Spoliarium.

Measuring 4 meters high and 7 meters wide, it was an instant hit. It bested hundreds of entries from
all over Europe, notably the Spanish, Italian and French painters at the time.

Juan Luna’s name and face was in all the papers in Madrid and Paris. He was an international
celebrity. (show picture 2 - Spoliarium)

And the waiter? Juan Luna never heard from him but suffice it to say that the waiter became the
proud owner of a Juan Luna original.

CONCLUSION

(show picture 1 again) Was the GSIS President mistaken in buying this national treasure? I cannot
answer that for sure. But in this national treasure, and in other masterpieces like the Spoliarium,
Juan Luna proved to the world that the indios could, despite their supposed “barbarian” race, paint
far far better than the Spaniards who colonized them.

Toastmaster of the Day

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Everyone Makes Mistakes

AC - Story Telling (Project V)

Bringing History to Life
September 5, 2008

Introduction

How many of you have made mistakes in your life? Oh ! This is a dumb question. Everyone
in this world makes mistakes. From great presidents to poor residents, everyone makes
mistakes - no exceptions.

When we were kids, we made mistakes unknowingly. Our parents used to correct us. When
we grew up, we hardly listen to what our parents say.

You might be familiar about Gandhi - the leader who was behind India's Independence.
Gandhi was known for non-violence. Gandhi was known for adopting vegetarian diet. Gandhi
was known for peace. Some of you may even think, you've to be born with these qualities to
be famous like Gandhi. But, it is not TRUE. Gandhi was a common man like you & me. He
has made several mistakes when he was a youth. So, what differentiates Gandhi from the rest
of this world? Well, he corrected his mistakes. He took control over his mistakes before his
mistakes took control over him.

Today you are going to hear the story of Gandhi that was least told. You are going to learn
about the darker side of Gandhi. You are going to get drenched in surprise. These are real
facts, based on the information from Gandhi's own biography - "My Experiments with Truth".

Meat Eating

Would you believe if I tell you that Gandhi ate non-vegetarian food? Could you imagine little Gandhi
having chicken soup, & spicy lamb curry, without his parents knowing it?

Gandhi is a vegetarian by birth. However, he was always worried that he wasn't strong enough like
his friends who are meat eaters. Gandhi was scared of ghosts, thieves, & snakes. He never slept alone
in darkness. He used to imagine that he'll be haunted by ghosts on one side, and thieves on the other
side. One of his friends told Gandhi, “You can become strong if you eat meat. Look at me... I'm not
scared of ghosts. I'm not scared of thieves. I'm stronger than you. Even some of our teachers eat
meat. Do you think they are fools? Indians are so weak because they do not eat meat. Look at the
British. They all are meat eaters. That is the reason, they are ruling us”.

Gandhi was persuaded by his friends arguments. Gandhi decided to eat meat. His friend prepared &
brought him delicious meat dishes. They both went to a lonely place near the river to have the feast.
Gandhi didn't like it initially, but his passion to become stronger forced him to be a meat eater.
Whenever he ate meat, he couldn't get a proper sleep. He felt as if a goat was jumping & making
noise inside his tummy.

His parents didn't knew about this habit. Whenever his mom asks why he is skipping a meal, he
would LIE that he is not hungry. This went on for about a year. Gandhi felt guilty of lying to his
parents. His conscious pricked him everyday. Hiding the truth haunted him every night. The
“imaginary goat” that was inside his tummy, started shouting louder & louder. He finally decided to
give up the meat eating habit. Since then, Gandhi never touched meat in his life.

Smoking

Meat eating was just one of the several mistakes that Gandhi did during his childhood. Gandhi was
also attracted to smoking cigars. He found pleasure in emitting clouds of smoke from his mouth. At
first, he started smoking with the stumps thrown away by his uncle. However, those stumps were
small and couldn't emit much smoke. Then, he experimented smoking with stumps of certain types
of plants. That didn't satisfy his passion, as well.

Cigars were too costly and he couldn't afford them. So, he started to STEAL money from his servant
to buy cigars. This went on for a while until he realized that stealing money from a poor servant is a
great sin. He felt ashame of stealing money. Gandhi then decided to give up his smoking habit as
well.

Lust

Gandhi got married to his wife at a very young age. In those days, kids used to live in their respective
parents' house after marriage. They hardly get to meet each other. Gandhi started living with his wife
after their 5th wedding anniversary. During those days, Gandhi's mind was filled with lust than love.

There were a few occasions when Gandhi was close to committing the biggest sin in his life. His bad
acquaintance took him to even prostitutes. Fortunately, the turn of events brought him safe out of
such situations. Gandhi was glad that he didn't commit that mistake.

Conclusion

Look at the early stages of Gandhi's life. He was just an ordinary person. He has done all the mistakes
that you & I have done in our life. Gandhi was not born a Mahatma. But he inherited habits that
turned him into a Mahatma. Gandhi made several mistakes like any of us would. But, he corrected
them at the right time.

We all make mistakes. Sometimes we do it knowingly, sometimes we do it unknowingly. Whenever

you make mistakes you have two choices – you can continue to repeat the mistake again & again (or)
you can acknowledge & correct the mistake.
Think about the mistakes that you make in life - at home, at work & in your toastmaster sessions. You
have a choice. You can repeat the mistakes (or) correct them. I'm confident that you'll choose the
later.

FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT (A story about Helen Keller)

Kate was deeply troubled. Her 6-year-old daughter Helen was becoming more and more
uncontrollable. She had contracted an illness when she was 19 months old. It had left her blind, deaf,
and consequently mute. Frustrated that she could not see nor communicate with anyone, Helen
would fly into uncontrollable rages and tantrums everyday.

One day, Kate came across an article about the successful education of another deaf and blind child,
Laura Bridgman and excitedly showed it to her husband. The couple quickly contacted the Perkins
Institute for the Blind, the school where Laura had been educated. The school's director, asked
former student Anne Sullivan to become Keller's instructor. Anne was herself visually impaired and
only 20 years old,

Anne Sullivan arrived at Helen Keller's house in March 1887. Kate brought Helen to Anne and placed
Helen's hand in Anne's. 'Hello Helen, I have a present for you.' Anne said, even though she
knew Helen could not hear her. Anne placed a doll in Helen's hands and Helen started feeling the doll
and stroking her hair. Then Anne took one of Helen's hands and started finger writing on her palm.
She was spelling the word 'doll' d-o-l-l. Helen did not understand what Anne was doing. She pulled
her hand away and continued to stroke the doll.

The next few days were traumatic. Helen hit, pinched, and kicked her teacher and even knocked out
one of her teeth. Anne convinced her parents she needed two weeks alone with the child if she was
to achieve any progress in her education. Anne finally gained control by moving with the girl into a
small cottage on the Kellers’ property. Through patience and firm consistency, she finally won the
child’s heart and trust, a necessary step before Helen's education could proceed.

Helen's mother once told Anne that Helen had been precocious in her learning of language before
her illness and that her first word had been "wah-wah" for water. One

day, while Anne and Keller were at the water pump refilling a pitcher of water, Anne kept spelling the
word 'water' into Helen's palm. Suddenly, Helen whispered 'wah-wah'. She kept repeating it. Finally
she understood that 'wah-wah' or w-a-t-e-r was the the tangible substance splashing from the pump.

It was a moment of enlightenment that brought Helen from darkness into light. She finally
understood that words represented things. Later Helen Keller wrote in her autobiography:

"Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and
somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that “w-a-t-e-r” meant the
wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave
it light, hope, joy, set it free! … Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought.
As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life."
Helen wrote of the days that followed, “I did nothing but explore with my hands and learn the name
of every object that I touched; and the more I handled things and learned their names and uses, the
more joyous and confident grew my sense of kinship with the rest of the world.”

Sullivan fingerspelled to her constantly, and coached her in the give-and-take of conversation.
Keller’s love of language, her great articulateness and grace as a writer and public speaker were built
upon this foundation.

The following year Helen attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind where she joined other little
blind children in their work and play, and talked continually. She was delighted to find that nearly all
of her new friends could spell with their fingers. She wrote of this experience: "Oh, what happiness!
To talk freely with other children! To feel at home in the great world!” Helen studied French,
arithmetic, geography, and other subjects. She especially enjoyed the library of embossed books and
the tactile museum’s collection of bird and animal specimens.

Later Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan moved to New York to attend other special schools for the deaf
and eventually in 1904, at the age of 24, Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe College, becoming the
first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate
for people with disabilities. She was able to achieve all this because of one person - her teacher
Anne Sullivan.

Anne Sullivan became more than a teacher to Helen Keller. They became lifelong companions who
lived, worked, and traveled together. By 1935, Anne Sullivan became completely blind. She died at
age 70, with Keller holding her hand. When Keller herself died in 1968, her ashes were placed next to
Anne's.

In October 2009, a bronze statue of Helen Keller was added to the National Statuary Hall Collection in
America. It depicts Keller as a seven year old child standing at a water pump. The statue represents
the significant moment in Helen Keller's life when she understood her first word: W-A-T-E-R, as
signed into her hand by teacher Anne Sullivan. The pedestal base bears a quotation in raised letters
and Braille characters: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched, they must be felt with the heart."

Christine's recommendations for improvement included more vocal variety and dramatisation to
make the story come alive.

A good start to the new year. Two more project speeches to AC-S!