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From: SSG Hodges
Date: 10/11/03
Time: 11:10:24 PM
Remote Name: 152.163.252.199
I replied to your post to my paper ("You're the Narrator, Sergeant") and had even written Judy Kuster that you had a great story to tell & she should contact you. She wrote me back with your paper's URL. Oops! However, seriously, Alan -- you have hit on my HOT BUTTON. Your paper is actually a kind of answer to your original question to me. I got into SKYDIVING cause I had a fear of high-heights. I agree to help out as a middle school math substitute teacher in 1969 for a few days -- and it helped me face my fear of math (if u teach it...you learn it better). I taught swimming/lifesaving years earlier at a scout camp -- and that was years after nearly being asked to leave another camp for refusing to get into the water(had a slight fear of it). Procrastination, however, has been my nemesis..and you're really correct. Whether it's public speaking or tackling any task one has, if you face your fears -- or go outside your comfort zone -- one GROWS from it and very often finds that it's not as bad as we fear. And as you and I both found out, what was a "fear" can become a strength and pleasurable even. Unlike my "tale," your paper had very practical suggestions. That's exactly what that speech camp had us do: go out and speak to people! However, Alan, you have to tell me what the heck an Edinburgh Speech Mask is. I asked my father, who attended Edinburgh University in the '30's if he had a clue and he didn't. Furthermore, your article had so many good thoughts for making progress OUTSIDE of stuttering, I've printed it out for future reference!!! (Don't know if I've heard the words "comfort zone" from a book -- but you might consider expanding this article and making it into a magazine article for NON-stutters: i.e., "How to Face Your Fears: Go Outside Your Comfort Zone.") Great article.