Forensics/Debate
Original Oratory
1996

The Perfect Place

Breath in, Breath out. Breath in, breath out. Slow your respiration down slower and slower and slower. Breath in, breath out. Now close your eyes, count to three. Imagine the perfect place. Picture a beach, blue sky, clean, warm sand, and water so calm and clear it is like glass. Or maybe you prefer a place more on the fantastic side. A place like a huge magnificent castle in the sky. Yellow flags swaying in the cool gentle breeze, and the prince or princess of your dreams waiting at the gate on a white horse for your arrival. Can you picture this place? Now, open your eyes and keep that picture in the back of your mind. I know that this exercise has probably relaxed you, but don’t go to sleep on me, because today we are going to listen to three contestants on a game show telling us their answers to the question “What is the perfect place?”

Hello, Hello! My name is Bob and I will be your host on today’s game show Answer That Question. Today we will ask three lucky contestants the question “What is the perfect place?” Shall we begin? I think so. Let’s first go to contestant number one. Contestant what is your answer?

Well Bob, everyone knows what the perfect place is. The perfect place is one with no crime or pollution, It has to be a place where everything is just the way everyone wants it. No one can ever show a sign of hatred or prejudice to any other person or thing, and every person gets everything that he or she wants. Every person will be just as rich as the next person and nobody will ever be poor. Now let me see! How else can the perfect place be described? Oh, there has to be clean air, clear water, and lush green grass on the ground. Beautiful blue sky during the day and a star filled black sky all night long. Every wish coming true and wonderful dreams every time you go to sleep. Never losing a loved one to the hands of death. Never having a world that can’t support the immortal lives of the people we would be. How else can I describe the perfect place? The only way that I can think of is by calling it problem free.

Thank you, contestant one. I think. Now we had better move on to contestant number two. Contestant. First of all Bob, I would like to say that the first contestant was on the right track but I think that he was beating around the bush. The reason that I say this is because there is no right answer to this question. Every person you ask the question to will give you a totally different answer. Let me throw a few examples out at you. First, some say “Heaven” is the perfect place, while others say it is “Hell.” Second, some talke about the perfect place being some after life and others prefer the life that they are now living. Third, some say that a distant dimension is the perfect place while others say exploring our own solar system is perfect. It is hard to say what the perfect place is with all these differences that can be thought of for what the perfect place is. Hey, you know, some might even say that going to sleep during a person’s speech is the perfect place but that‘s a totally different topic. Now let me ask a few questions of my own that might help in answering this question of ours. Is there a perfect place? Is there an after life? Is there a “Heaven” or “Hell?” Are there distant dimension or are we living in the only one? Could our galaxy be trapped inside a crystal ball sitting as a paper weigh on some creatures table? Are we just the figments of some things imagination, or is Zino’s hypothesis about life not being able to exist correct. With all of this information and all of these questions that come about, how could any one person come up with the correct answer to what the perfect place is? It is virtually impossible to find that answer.

Thank you contestant number two. Now we had better move on to the third contestant before time runs out. Contestant, make it fast.

To start off with, I would like to say that both contestant number one and contestant number two are completely incorrect in their answers. Here is my proof. Now I am sure that most of you have heard the statement, “No one is perfect;” from your mom or someone else that you know. Am I right? I thought so. Knowing that no person is perfect it can be inferred that no thing is perfect either. NO thing can be perfect because everything we have has been tampered with by the imperfect hands of man. Well there is one thing that is perfect that no one has probably thought about, except me that is. Now, I’m not talking science or religion, I am stating pure fact. The only perfect thing there is, is imperfection. So, every thing and every person there is, is perfect at not being perfect. With this piece of information, I can proceed in telling you that the one and only perfect place is the world as we know it now. We are not perfect, but we strive to make our world a perfect place. This will never happen, but it is the attempt that counts. When something has gone wrong, we try to make it right, and nobody can have everything they want when they want it; there as to be some give and take in life. That is why we are living in the perfect place right now. Was that fast enough for you Bob? I hope it was.

Yes it was and thank you for going as fast as you did. Well, that about wraps it up for to day. We will be back tomorrow with the winner of today’s show and a new round of contestants with another question. So-long for now.

Well, you have heard all of these different opinions on what the perfect place is and I bet you are wondering who won the game. Well, it turns out that the judges liked all three of the answers given to them that day, and they all won. Like contestant number two said, every person has their own idea on what the perfect place is. Now, it is time for you to hear one more, my idea. Close your eyes one more time. Bring back that picture that you have from the perfect place. Do you see it? Where are you picturing this place? You are seeing this place in your imagination. Keep your eyes closed and see your perfect place while I continue. I believe that the imagination is the perfect place. In your imagination you can picture everything just the way you want it no matter what. Everyone imagines something different. I think that your imagination is the perfect place. What do you think it is?