Fellow Toastmasters and guests, as the president of this Club, I announce our meeting No. 10 adjourned. Let's go to the second round! At the little Cafe where we usually gather after regular meeting, I chatted happily with some fellow members as usual. But when a senior male Toastmaster suddenly said: "You women could never be philosophers!" I was so stunned and so stimulated that I started to think about this interesting issue.

To be a philosopher? Wow! The name "Aristotle" flashes right into my mind. It sounds so great and yet so far, far beyond my reach! Is it true that women could never be philosophers? That night, I found myself tossing around in the bed whole night!

In order to be precise, I rushed to the library first thing in the morning and looked up all the dictionaries I could find. Webster, Oxford, Lanbridge, Longman, you name it, I got it. Yes, every edition. I looked up the word "Philosopher" in all of them. Here are what I have got. A philosopher is:

* a person engaged in or devoted to philosophy;
* a person who lives by philosophy; and
* a person who meets all circumstances with philosophic calmness.

Then, I realized it's necessary to look up the word "Philosophy". This is how "Philosophy" is defined in the dictionaries.

Philosophy is:

* the science of ego, or mental itself;
* the use of reason and argument in seeking truth and knowledge of reality;
* practical wisdom;
* a personal rule of life; and
* calmness of temper and judgment.

Now that I understand the true meaning of "Philosophy" and "Philosopher", I start to reexamine women.

Do women know about the science of ego or mental itself? With the fact that women are usually said to be highly selfish and extremely sensitive, I suppose it's appropriate to say women are the masters of the science, or even Ph. D.'s--Doctors of Philosophy, of course. Women usually won't stop arguing, digging, or questioning until they find out where and with whom their husbands truly are! And a woman like I would look up dictionaries, keep thinking and reasoning in order to seek the truth of whether women could really be philosophers or not.

Take our homes as example. Mothers, the chief commanders in our homes. They have such amazing practical wisdom to handle every tiny little thing that happens in our daily life. They help their children with homework. They do alteration to give old clothes a brand new look. They can prepare a delicious meal in a very short time, even when some unexpected guests show up suddenly. Mothers have their own rules to do the laundry, clean up the houses, and keep everything in order. Look around, gentlemen, for all the female Toastmasters here today, I am sure we all consider attending Toastmasters meeting regularly part of our rule.

Women, either single or married, make good judgments, too. We know when to work hard, when to relax and enjoy life, and we know when to buy a little diamond for ourselves sometimes. Besides, we are not ashamed to ask for discounts when we feel the price is unreasonable. Come on, gentlemen, let's face it. Men would never dare to do this simply because of the silly egoism inside. Most importantly, when a woman spots her Mr. Right, she would calmly make her Mr. Right fall in love with her before he even notices it. Women are patient, diligent, and enduring. And look at me, look at me. I handle this speech contest with philosophic calmness. Studies do show that women take pressures better than men do. However, I must confess women do get hysteric sometimes, but, who's perfect? Are you? And you, sir? No, no one is perfect!

As you can see, women are the experts of Philosophy. We live by philosophy. We handle each situation in life with philosophic calmness, except being hysteric sometimes. So I would say women are 95% qualified to be philosophers. No doubt at all!

By the way, please remember that women are broad-minded because we would never ever say: "You men could never be philosophers!". If you ask me my definition about a philosopher, here is my answer. As long as a person can keep an open mind, free thinking, rational attitude, and passion to life, that person is a philosopher, man or woman alike.

But honestly, to be or not to be a philosopher, who cares! I just wonder if the champion of the speech contest should be a philosopher or not. To be or not to be?

That's a good question!