Debate: the Other Side and Morning Respected Judges
Thank You Molly! Good morning respected judges, my fellow contestants and members of the audience. Today we are indeed honoured and privileged to stand before you and speak against the common motion that “THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE”. Hmmmm……not until you see my neighbour’s garden maybe then you will change your mind. First of all, what does the grass is always greener on the other side mean?
It means that from your perspective, what other people have is always going to look better than what you have. It’s about being jealous of other people’s things and never being satisfied with who you are and what you have. I think each one of us is guilty of practicing “The grass is always greener” theory at various times in our lives; be it from moving schools, changing careers to pursuing new relationships. It happens most often when we are unhappy about some portion of our existence.
The problem with following this practice is that once you arrive on the other side, we often find that it’s drought conditions and there’s nothing we can do and it’s too late to go back. In fact the statement “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side” originated from a story of goats that kept trying to reach the other side of a river and when they got there the grass was all dead and since there was nothing else to eat they all starved to death.
This story symbolizes that sometimes you should not try to change your situation or location but instead to work with what you have. I really like a quote from the song Million Dollar Man by Cutlass that says “the grass isn’t greener on this lonely side. ” Meaning, don’t sacrifice everything and everyone trying to get a better life because you’re just going to be stuck wishing for what you had. Things might look good somewhere else and you want what others have because you think it’s better than what you have however that is not necessarily the case all the time.
Relationships are one area I am tempted to begin with since it governs a good proportion of our lives. Let’s say you spent a good part of your live with a man who you adore and love to bits. You share a lot of experiences together only to be dumped for someone who is prettier and allows him to watch football all day on Sunday. It won’t be long before he realises that this person has faults too. She might be cheating on him or cost too much to maintain (High maintenance). . As time goes on he starts to see the 2nd woman’s true colours.
She’s not as nice and doesn’t treat him as good as you did. The 2nd woman is shallow. The man starts to regret leaving you because his adventures are turning into misery. We can also apply this to the thousands of Africans migrating to the west in search of greener pastures. Most of these migrants are professionals understood to have sacrificed decent and respectable jobs back in their respective countries under the illusion that life was going to be plain sailing overseas.
For those that have had to stoop low, one can imagine the psychological effect and damage to one’s ego, and the humiliation associated with a lowered social status. Some migrants have been forced into career changes, such as cleaning, security personnel, car park attendance, kitchen assistants, carers just to mention a few. Although some might have realised their dreams but the majority have seen their dreams washed away by the day and unfortunately is even harder to go back with all the expectation back home.
Hundreds of them also loose their lives in transit. Is the grass really greener on the other side? Finally, I’m sure we all agree on the fact that you shouldn’t be envious of other people just stick to what you have because it’s probably much much better and you should be grateful and appreciate it as other people would rather be in your position and would do anything to have your life. I will sign off with few lines from one of my favourite songs “As long as you love me” Justin Bieber the grass ain’t always greener on the other side, It’s green where you water it So I know we got issues baby but I’d rather work on this with you Than to go ahead and start with someone new” meaning even if you have problems in your life it doesn’t mean you should want to have someone else’s life. You can always work on these problems ………. do you agree? Well as a team we sure we all do and that’s the very reason why we are sticking with BS for a long haul as we believe the grass isn’t greener anywhere else. Thank you very much for your kind attention. I rest my case! ———————– debate speech
