I have a voice!

The weight of the world can be a bugger.

When I feel the world on my shoulders — when I fall flat on my face and feel life’s bruises — when it all gets to be too much . . . I get frustrated. I may even wallow in “woe is me pity.”

Eventually though I come back to a scene from the 2010 movie, The King’s Speech.

In the scene, Lionel Logue, a speech coach, triggers King George VI by sitting in the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. The chair has deep meaning and is used exclusively by reigning British monarchs. Of course King George gets angry by the act. He fights through his stutter and years of mental abuse to assert his authority and self-worth. The scene calls to me for several reasons.

I’ve written several times in the past about the stammer I had when I was a kid. My thoughts would race ahead of my ability to get the words out of my mouth. In the best of times, they would come out in a disorganized jumble. In the worst of times, I would grind to a halt in a frustrating stutter that killed any kind of understanding.

I felt frustrated. I felt hurt, I felt other’s eyes on me. I felt their confusion and sometimes their mocking. I had something to say and I couldn’t get it out. I remember also feeling overlooked by others. It took a huge toll on my confidence and self worth.

Those days are long in the past but it doesn’t take much for me to travel back in time to feel that frustration. I hear a cashier stutter or see kids teasing one another and I can instantly travel back in time. It’s like it’s always there under the surface. It’s easy for me to feel King George’s pain and embarrassment.

In the movie, King George shouts at the top of his lungs, “Because I have a right to be heard! I have a voice!” Yes, I remind myself that I too have a voice. I too have a right to be heard. We all do.

I pick myself up from wherever I am. I rise up and keep going. Here’s to another day. Another chance. Another opportunity.

Here’s to rising up and overcoming life’s challenges!