LOOK AT ME NOW..........A MESSAGE OF HOPE 
By Andrew Greenstein
See A Video Of This Inspirational Speech On YouTube 
	Can you think of a problem in your life you believe is impossible to overcome?........ April 8th, 2003..my first daughter was born...and I didn't know it yet...but her life would give me the courage to change....the impossible. It was supposed to be the best day of my life...My beautiful wife was nursing our baby for the very first time and I asked "How can I help?"...[voice of wife]: "You can go tell the nurse I need a breast pump kit!" I wanted to tell her "no" and I think I had a good excuse: All   my life -- I had a severe stuttering problem......and only one thing ever saved me from humiliation: Silence...     
	But I'd read the book "How to Live Happily Ever After for Dummies" and it says not to deny your wife any favor on the day she gives birth. [Motion: Toss book over shoulder while rolling eyes]..  So I went down to that nurse's station...and Nurse Cindy asked: [friendly voice]: "Hi, What can I do for ya, son?" [shy, nervous look] "Nurse, I need to get one of those breast..ppppppppppp ?    Uhm, I just want a breast ppppppp.... Look, would you please just give me a breast...ppppppppppp....."   Mr. Chairman, fellow toastmasters.....and anyone else who's ever been escorted out of a hospital by security guards...I should've just written the question down.. or pretended to have laryngitis.. I used to do anything to avoid talking.. But ....LOOK AT ME NOW...... yet just 2 years ago, my public speaking dream would've been to walk into McDonald's and be able to say 'cheeseburger.' Instead, I'd always end up with a "FISH sandwich".. ..because that was the only thing on the menu I could say...
	Speech pathologists, textbooks....even the national institute of health said I would never overcome stuttering.. but LOOK AT ME NOW! My change began June 12th, 2004.....while I was checking into a Disney hotel with my baby girl... I thought I could stay silent by slipping the clerk a printout of my reservation ..Instantly, what should've been the happiest place on Earth...became my scariest... when she asked me THIS unexpected question: "Aww, What's your adorable baby's name?". ......I knew I wouldn't be able to say my own daughter's name...Then, I remembered something Martin Luther King once said:  "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.."--and what could matter more than my baby girl?  "Her name is B-- B-- B-- B--" [fierce struggle/result in emotional frustration]... 5-7 minutes is not enough time to show you-- how I struggled to say: Baiden-Melody....I HATED myself ....I wanted to just go home... I wanted to give up and learn sign language.. I wanted to change my daughter's name to something I could say like.... "Fish Sandwich With Large Fries"....but, instead....I decided to change...................me.....
	So I worked 10 hours a day...reconditioning my speech to reduce tension on my vocal cords...Last year, I spoke freely....to friends and family ......for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! I gained confidence..I gained self-respect.. I even gained six pounds eating Mcdonald's cheeseburgers !
	2 years ago, I couldn't even say Toastmasters...BUT LOOK AT ME NOW!.. I've delivered more than 30 speeches....I've said my daughter's name to complete strangers....I've even got a closet filled with breast pump kits that I went to Walgreen's and asked for myself!
	Let's look at YOU now.. Is your life's greatest problem really* impossible to overcome? But I went from th-th-th--th-that to THIS -- and you can go from whereever you are to whereever you wanna be..John Shedd says "Ships in Harbor Are Safe....But That's Not Why Ships Are Built." We were not built to just accept our problems and do nothing...The lesson is courage, the message is hope, the mission is to challenge you to figure out what it's gonna take to sail from your harbor... past your self-imposed horizons until you reach the point in your life where * you'll * be able to stand up and say: LOOK.... AT.... ME..... NOW....