Featureflash/Shutterstock.com
What Would You Say in Your Acceptance Speech?
Think about what message you'd want to send, if you had 60 seconds on stage at the Oscars.
So imagine this. You’re an Academy Awards nominee and you’ve just won a coveted Oscar. (Maybe even a super cool Lego Oscar like Oprah got.) You’ve got around 60 seconds at the podium to say what’s on your heart before the orchestra cranks it up and starts playing you off the stage.
What would you say?
Would you follow the lead of Best Supporting Actor winner J.K. Simmons and thank your wife and kids first and then wrap it up by encouraging people everywhere to call, not text, their parents and let them talk as long as they want?
Would you make a statement on societal issues like Best Supporting Actress winner Patricia Arquette did on equal pay for women or Best Song co-winner John Legend did on voting rights and sentencing and prison reform?
Perhaps you’d tell a moving personal story like Graham Moore, the winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay award for The Imitation Game. Making a connection between the life of the hero of the movie, Alan Turing, and his own journey, Moore disclosed:
“I tried to commit suicide at 16, and now I’m standing here. I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere. You do. Stay weird. Stay different, and then when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage please pass the same message along.”
It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? If, in one of the most important moments of your life, you had 60 seconds to say what was most on your heart or on your mind what would it be?
This week, why not give some time to thinking through what you would say if you were giving that acceptance speech. The odds are that you’re not going to win an Oscar, but what’s stopping you from going ahead and giving that speech anyway to the person or people with whom you want to share it? There’s no time like the present. Say what you want to say to them.
And, if the Oscar is a vital part of the picture for you, you can always build one out of Lego blocks.
Let me know how it goes. And please send me a pic of any Oscar statuettes you build.
(Image via Featureflash/Shutterstock.com)