Interpretive Speech Draft

“An artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” These were the wise words of Emile Zola, a French novelist, critic and activist. What it simply means is that talent and ability is of no meaning if a person refuses to work on it. Some people believe that talent is inborn, but others believe that talent comes with hard work and a lot of practice. I’m a believer of the latter. To me, nothing comes without a substantial amount of effort put into it. Previously, I was terrible at speaking in public. When I stood up there, I had this tendency of losing my words and I would be seized by this sudden panic attack. But coming for this class and being pushed into presenting speeches on a regular basis is part of practice. So, even without the gift of speaking well, I am slowly improving myself to become a better speaker. I wouldn’t say that I’m good at it now but with work and effort I would be able to improve my presentation skills gradually.

You can have anything in the world but if you don’t work on it, it has no significance. This quote, “An artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work,” is a lesson for almost everything in life. For instance you could adopt this same idea for love. A relationship is nothing without love, but love is nothing without work. Love is something that is so fragile that you need to constantly work on it to ensure that it will last. You can’t just jump into a relationship without nurturing it and expect that it would love will prevail. The same thing works for money. If I were to give you 100 dollars and you were to do nothing with it but leave it as it is. In time the value of that money will decrease to become nothing. But if you were to work on that 100 dollars by purchasing 100 lemons and sell it at 2 dollars each it would become something. You could have the most amazing set of friends but if you constantly take that friendship for granted and you don’t work on it, you will eventually lose those friends. The most thriving people in the world don’t just turn wealthy and successful overnight. That too, comes with work.

So, “An artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work,” is a lesson that I will carry with me for life. After all, what is the point of life if you don’t work on it? What is life without working on happiness, on family ties, on relationships, on friendships, on knowledge? Life without work is not living because life comes with reason and purpose. Hence, if you do not work on accomplishing this purpose you would be nothing more than insignificant.