The Oscar Nominations have been announced and the King’s Speech has been nominated for 12 awards. Maybe not as popular as the Social Network with moive goers this year…but in my book a must see. This is the story of George VI who stammered. He was the reluctant King of England during World War II. This movie at times was painful. Imagine having a whole stadium full of people turn and look at you ready to hear your speech, or have a whole nation go quiet next to their radios waiting for you to reassure them as the country is on the verge of war. These are scary situations for most anyone but now imagine you stutter or as it was called in those days, stammered. Now imagine that almost everyone around you thinks you are stammering on purpose…..doing it to spite your father and family. The only person who seems to be on his side is his wife…….and she searches out an odd Aussie who’s tile is speech therapist to help the King with his stammer. Needless to say the Prince is none to happy to be meeting the “doctor”. However the journey the two actually three embark on is full of painful realizations and ultimately a triumph of spirit. Imagine this same situation today….have you meet a person and thought less of them because of a speech or language disorder? That lateral lisp that makes the /s/ sound distorted or /w / for/ r/ or/ l /substitution or a stutter. The world is such a difficult place do we really think people choose to make themselves appear different on purpose? I think the King’s Speech is a movie that reminds us we all have weaknesses. Some are just more visible or audible than others and everyone is insecurity about those said weaknesses……let’s try and be a little more thoughtful and show the grace that Churchill showed King George the VI when he told him that he too had had a speech disorder and to just relax and share his message with the kingdom.
All my best,
Jill
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