Not because of the way I look or the way I dress, it’s all because of the way I talk. With my, shall I say, ‘Southern Belle’ accent.
From California, to Chicago, to the Big Apple I have been asked this question. One place I NEVER thought my red-neck (I might as well go ahead and call it like it is) southern drawl would be brought up in conversation was in the Czech Republic. Most of these people don’t even speak English and the ones who do probably don’t even notice I am saying words with long vowels. But, believe it or not, it did come up in conversation, ON THE FIRST DAY HERE.
Anyway, I shared with the fine people who were commenting on (nice way to say “making fun of”) my speech, how there was a time that I really disliked the way I talked. When you are a public speaker you want to sound a little sophisticated and maybe even a little educated.
I even attended a Speakers class about 6 years ago and the only “advice” the leader gave me was a card with a phone number on it of a voice coach who would teach me to not sound so much like a hillbilly. (No offence if you consider yourself to be a hillbilly, I are one too)
Anyway, tonight in our last session, the speaker was telling us we have to be one of a kind. To find out who you are. Don’t try to be like someone else. God put a lot of time planning who you would be, where you would be born, and what your gifts and talents would be.
And yet we find ourselves not liking our voice, our gifts, or our heritage and we try to change it. And as we do we just end up frustrated and disliking ourselves even more because you will only master being who you were designed to be.
God put something in you that He put in no one else. For me, one of those things is the way I speak. For you it may be the way you care for those close to you. But when we all, who are uniquely gifted and designed, come together, we all become a part of God’s greatest symphony.
And we complete each other.
I had to learn to be myself, and to be myself in the Lord.
So, no matter if I am in Indiana or the Czech Republic, I am proud to use MY southern voice. It has become my badge of honor.
Blessings from Europe!
Tina