This is my entry for "Brave", this weeks topic on Illustration Friday.
For the subject 'Brave' I had thought about doing Richard Pryor. He was pretty brave doing all those stand up gigs and just being prepared to lay himself out bare in front of an audience.
Instead though, I've opted for Alan Badmington.
Alan Badmington is someone who has made a fully recovery from a life of stammering.
He is a retired policeman who at one point would have great difficulty speaking a sentence without the use of an electrical device which would aid his speech.
Upon retirement though, he decided to enroll on a speech therapy programme where he learned the tools and techniques which helped him reach complete fluency.
He is now a hugely successful public speaker who often lectures on self development and the importance of facing your fears.
Having had a few issues with stammering myself over the years I know how much courage it would have taken for him to put his new techniques for speaking fluently into practice and drop his old avoidance techniques that merely "got him by".
5 comments:
What a courageous man. This is a nice tribute (on top of being a nice drawing!)
Alan's been an inspiration, a mentor and a friend for me. He instructed my first course on the Mcguire program that changed my life. Gregor, what a wonderful tribute to a very very special human being. (((big hugs))) to you Alan! Julia (from Pakistan) :)
That is one first class illustration of the Alan Badmington that I know. Good job Gregor. Excellent.
Hi Greg, I was moved by your generous comments and the decision to capture my facial characteristics in such a remarkable manner.
I really admire those who are artistic. The only things that I am ever likely to draw are water (from a tap) and my old age pension. :-)
I'm not sure that I was brave when I chose to finally deal with my stuttering issues after struggling for half a century. Once I had sampled greater freedom of speech, there was no way that anything (or anyone) would stop me from achieving my goal. :-)
The debilitating oral shackles (that inhibited me since childhood) have finally been removed and I can now pluck whatever words I wish, from the extremities of my vast vocabulary (swelled by a lifetime of word substitution), and say them without the fear of stuttering. It real is SO liberating.
Thank you, once again.
Alan
Wow, Gregor, that's a great drawing. Alan is a poet, a writer, a speaker, and a Funny Guy....and a lot more. This is great. Have you done more pencil drawings? Ruth Mead
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