{"id":1164,"date":"2020-03-17T10:28:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T04:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:08:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T08:38:26","slug":"gavel-in-the-time-of-corona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/?p=1164","title":{"rendered":"Gavel in the time of Corona"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

– Oh, how I wish I was talking about the alcoholic beverage. – <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This past week has been Ada Derana news\nalerts one after the other, confusing us about whether Monday is a holiday for\neveryone, shutting down everything from cinemas to museums and reporting on Coronavirus\npatients being found at quarantine centres. This past week has also been a time\nof WhatsApp group chats getting fired up due to disagreements, sharing (in\nequal capacity) memes about the end of the world, Jumanji and the ever-famous\nmillennial death wish and articles with valuable information about COVID-19 to\nthe point where you\u2019ve read \u201cdo not panic\u201d in at least twenty different\narticles to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally speaking, I was ready to go to class and discuss the relevance of literature to this whole crisis but I am stuck at home, saying this to my family, who could care less about what I have to say. I don\u2019t know if you feel the same way, but if you do, I\u2019m here to say that you are definitely not alone. If you\u2019re happy that you don\u2019t have to go to University for two weeks, that\u2019s valid too, and you are not a bad person for wanting a holiday in the midst of all this mess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something that greatly saddened me was the\nround of messages being sent around about \u2018Oration 2020\u2019 being postponed until\nfurther notice, because I was looking forward to the competition taking its\ncourse during the next few weeks and because I know the organizing committee\nhas done a great job, as is. Obviously, this is out of our hands (but we should\nkeep washing them for 20 seconds) and I would love to have a Table Topics\nSpeech to discuss the \u2018highs and lows of Coronavirus\u2019 but we cannot have\nmeetings for the next two weeks, either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I decided to use my words to remind\neveryone how Gavel Club can help us get through this frankly annoying period of\ntime where everyone is either panicking or panic-buying hand sanitizer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a Gavelier means being able to think on your feet \u2013 every time we do a Round Robin speech, even though it is only for 20 seconds, we pretty much wing it. Although we know the theme that we need to speak on, we get lost in what others say and are too busy listening to catch the last word the person before us said, so that we can at least attempt to follow to rules of the session (this sense is rife with sarcasm). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are so used to thinking on the spot and spewing out whatever comes to mind, and we can use that skill to our advantage right now. You have most probably encountered a wisecrack or two already, that keep yelling in your face about the virus being a menace and how it is disrupting their fun and how they cannot go watch a movie in peace or whatever. This is where you could use your Gavel-given talent and join in on the complaint train until they have stopped talking. It doesn\u2019t matter if you don\u2019t have anything to complain about and that you actually think the shutting down of public places is a good idea, you only need to out-complain your opponent so that they either think you\u2019re hopeless or you\u2019ve both somehow covered all topics to complain about and nothing more needs to be said. You can also use this talent to hit people with the facts when they start saying things that you know are not true which would only confuse and alarm other people (I did this yesterday with my granduncle and now he won\u2019t talk to me). The takeaway here is to use your quick-thinking to spread awareness, clear up doubts and even to vent a little bit, if you want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing that we learn at Gavel club\nis the power of resilience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We learn to be resilient and power through whenever the Table Topics Master calls on us out of the blue to give a speech and the title that we pick is something that we don\u2019t even understand. Sure, it may take a few seconds and a few awkward stares, but we eventually start the speech and end it on a definitive note. We can use this power to get over the hurdles that this quarantine period is putting us through. Maybe an event that you were looking forward to, got cancelled. Maybe you love your workplace and now you have to work from home. Maybe you want to work from home but your boss is demanding that you come to office. Maybe you were looking forward to a lecture but now you\u2019ve to wait two weeks for it. Maybe you\u2019ve had to postpone a trip (although with the hotel and travel rates these days, I wouldn\u2019t mind risking it). Whatever you have had to do or give up, now is when you use your resilience and think of ways to work around it. Just like how you aren\u2019t sure what your Table Topic speech will turn out to be, you probably don\u2019t know right now, exactly how you\u2019re going to solve your issues. But take a few moments, look at the ceiling, the floor or the back of the hall \u2013 take that time to steady yourself and think it through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape or form\npromoting the idea of leaving home during a health crisis. Please stay at home.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the more important things we promote\nat Gavel is giving prepared public speeches \u2013 this means that we actually need\nto prepare ahead of time the content that we speak, how we speak it and how the\nspeech flows. We also need to be mindful that these speeches achieve the\nrelevant objectives they are supposed to achieve. What all of this does for us\nis teach us to prepare ahead (some of you need to learn to do this for future\nspeeches is all I\u2019m saying). What this preparation teaches us is that there are\nmany things that we need to consider before finalizing a speech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now apply this to your life right now \u2013 people are panicking and buying out entire Keells outlets, they\u2019re spraying disinfectant on everyone, they\u2019re not buying food from Chinese Dragon, they\u2019re doing things that they think are smart, but are actually really stupid. Thankfully, we don\u2019t have to be those people. With all the preparation that we have been doing for speeches, we can easily prepare ourselves to face this pandemic without being hasty. My challenge, currently, is preparing for the endless tirade of complaints about the way in which I conduct myself at home that my mother will inevitably embark on, in the next few days. Some of my friends are preparing to alter their schedule for the next few months to accommodate these sudden holidays. Some people are preparing to work at home with the sound of the coconut scraper in the background disrupting their focus. Others are preparing to keep themselves busy for the next two weeks because they can\u2019t go anywhere. With all of the knowledge that we have on how to prepare, these things should be way easier for us to be ready for, all or in-part thanks to Gavel club\u2019s Prepared Speech segment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we can actually use this time to\nfurther our Gavel club journeys! We now have two weeks to sit at home and sulk,\nor go to work and sulk (provided they don\u2019t declare any more working holidays)\nso we might as well use those two weeks to prepare either our CC Speeches or\nour Oration speeches. Basically, this entire article was to promote Oration and\nhow now you definitely do not have an excuse for not signing up, because you\ncan prepare for your speeches now without those pesky lectures getting in the\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, but really, while this virus has\nplagued nations all over the world, I\u2019m sure it has become exhausting to hear,\nsee and read about how bad the situation is. Hopefully, this article made you\nlaugh a little, roll your eyes a bit and breathe out a tiny sigh of relief\n(because you realized that I am way crazier than you are, to actually write\nthis nonsense).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, all I really know is\nthat 2020 has been a steaming pile of garbage so far, and with how rapidly\nCOVID-19 is spreading and affecting nearly all aspects of everything, we need\nto be ready to face whatever comes our way. While this in general may be a\ndepressing thought, it doesn\u2019t have to be. There is always someone else feeling\nthe same way you feel about these things. This could be a time where you find\nmore allies and make more friends (virtually). You may even have fun at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us not, however, pretend to be\ninvincible and do things that may land us in the hospital or in jail. By this,\nI mean to say that we need to stay at home, avoid going to crowded places,\nsneeze and cough into our elbows, greet people without touching them and for\ngod\u2019s sake, wash our hands for 20 seconds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks for that advice, Nish, but what am\nI actually supposed to do now, with all the time I have?\u201d you may be asking\nyourself while shaking your head at how ludicrous this blog post is and\nignoring what I\u2019ve been saying for the entire article (I don\u2019t blame you \u2013\nreading articles has become tedious during the last few days). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that is up to you, my friend. I was\nasking myself the same question earlier today, and then I decided to write\nthis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please stay safe, stay healthy and stay\nsanitized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nish. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Oh, how I wish I was talking about the alcoholic beverage. – This past week has been Ada Derana news alerts one after the other, confusing us about whether Monday is a holiday for everyone, shutting down everything from cinemas to museums and reporting on Coronavirus patients being found at quarantine centres. This past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gavel.cmb.ac.lk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}