John McClanahan
English 111 DEG
Essay #1
March 25, 2009
Speech Impediment
Bob Greene wrote about people who had been rejected in sports in, “Cut,” but I have never experienced this. I have always excelled in sports, and when I wasn’t good in a particular sport, I knew it and didn’t try out. But there was an issue that was a major obstacle in my life as a child and pre adolescent, stuttering. Overcoming this embarrassing problem would help shape my life and give me the determination to succeed in all my future endeavors.
As a young child, I was labeled as being very shy and quiet. Looking back, this was not an accurate assessment of me; because inside I was very outgoing I just couldn’t articulate it. I had a severe stuttering problem. On a scale of one to five, with five being the worse, I was a four. I could not complete a single sentence without help, encouragement, and sometimes ridicule from listeners. As a result, I tried to hide this problem and say as little as possible, however as I approached my teenage years, it was very clear to me that I would have to face this very awkward issue head on.
Besides the stuttering, I always considered myself a better than average student and excelled in sports, which kept me popular and prevented me from being totally ostracized. Then one day during my preadolescent years, eleven maybe twelve, my mother informed me, she was transferring me to a different more diversified school, in the middle of the school year. Due to the fact I was settled in my existing school situation (speech class 3 times a week, people finishing my sentences for me, exceptional football player), I was completely devastated. This school change turned out to be one of the most beneficial things that ever happened to me.
As I started the new school, a few things really stood out to me immediately; the class was diversified, smaller classroom, my new school was behind my previous school academically.
I will never...