FM Topic 27: Award Speech
The applause died down as Lureen walked to the stage. She was wearing a long gray skirt, a ruffly white shirt, the wings of her hair flying to to newly-discovered blond heights, and new cowboy boots, all topped off with pearls upon pearls. Her husband barely clapped, his eyes glazed over with boredom. She smiled her big, best Texas smile, and started her speech. She hadn't prepared it much, just a couple notes. She was a pretty good public speaker, after all.
"Evenin', everyone. I'm mighty honored ta be receivin' the 1980 'Spirit of Women Award' from the kind folks here at UT-Dallas. Was mighty nice of them ta give it ta me, bein' a UT-Austin graduate and all." Kind chuckles of laughter rang through the polite crowd. The faces in the audience read like a Who's Who of Texas Women, every one accompanied by a bored and distant man.
"The award reads, 'for excellence, dedication and contribution to the success of women.' I gotta say, means an awful lot ta me. As maybe some of ya know, and some of ya don't, I inherited a Farm and Ranch Machinery Company from my father, who's now retired. I've been workin' there since I was young, along with my husband, Jack," she waved mildly towards him in the audience. "I guess I know about anything there is to know about the business. But that wasn't good enough. You see, I got one major flaw. Makes a lot of people not want to buy from my company. I gotta admit this is the case, and I can't do anything about it. Ya'll want ta hear 'bout my flaw?" She paused long enough for a little clapping.
"Whull ya see, I'm a woman." Chattered laughter. "Nobody wants ta buy ranchin' equipment from a woman. A woman doesn't know anything 'bout ranchin'!" More giggles. "Now folks, I got ta admit, I don't know too much 'bout ranchin'. I never worked on a ranch. But I'm not trying to ranch, either. I am tryin' ta sell ranchin' equipment. Now there is one thing I know better than anyone else, and it's ranching equipment!" Applause again. It was a good crowd.
"Now if there are any young women in the audience tonight, I need ta tell you now. A lot of people are going ta not want ta use your business, 'cause women don't know 'bout this, or women don't know 'bout that. If you want their business, you are going ta have to work for it. Sometimes sittin' in front of an adding machine at three in the morning, and missin' your son's birthday party, and never cookin' dinner for your husband, some days it's going ta seem like a pretty big burden. But one day, when some group of women come ta you and tell you, like you all are tellin' me, that your success has been an inspiration 'round the great state a Texas, I got ta tell you, then it all feels worth it. Thank you so much for this." She held up the award, listened to the heated round of applause, and left the stage.
Sitting back down to the catered dinner, Lureen noticed that Jack still looked bored. He never seemed to appreciate the things she'd done for herself in life. She realized it didn't really matter. Placing the plaque on the table in front of her, she knew that someone did appreciate her. Someone appreciated her a hell of a lot, and now she had the proof.