ATTENTION GETTERS

EXAMPLE ONE

I'd like you remember your last vacation. How did you pay for it? Did you save up during the year? Work extra shifts as the date drew near? Or did you use easy credit cards, and pay interest?

Well there's a new way to get that great vacation and not use any of these three methods. Just follow these 2 easy steps:

1. Stop feeding your children;

2. Stop educating your children.

Sounds preposterous, illegal and undoable, doesn't it?

Well you're right--it is.

But this is exactly what President Bush is proposing in his budget cuts. Now, a war is not vacation, but the principle is the same.

Never before in the history of this country has a President both cut taxes and started a war--Never--because it's impossible to do.

Today I will persuade you that the proposed budget cuts are a serious problem. This problem is caused by an untenable war, immoral economics. The most serious effects of this problem will be hungry children who can't read.  

Conclusion:

 Simultaneously Cutting taxes and going to war -- is like taking a luxury vacation and quitting your job.

Example Two

Today you will meet three women: Nicole is 20, a single Mom of a sweet 2 year old, and like you—she’s a CCP student. She’s pregnant—not because she wants to be, or because she was careless—but because her birth control failed.

Now, meet Terry, a 30-year-old nurse. She’s having severe stomach cramps and dizziness every shift, and the head nurse is starting to nag her when she races to the bathroom. Last, meet Claire – at 36 she’s ready to have the child she and her partner have dreamed of. Her doctor tells her, though, that now is not a good time—in fact, it will never be a good time—because Claire is now sterile.

What do these 3 women have in common?

It’s not bad luck—It’s Depo-Provera—a birth control device that causes sterility, severe cramps, and has an alarming failure rate.

Today I will persuade you that Depo-Provera has these negative effects and was prematurely approved.

Conclusion:

As I mentioned in the intro, this birth control device isn’t just an abstract problem but something that can negatively affect your life.

EXAMPLE THREE

Imagine it’s late April: You’ve had a great week at school—you’re acing Math, have never had a better Biology class, and you absolutely love public speaking. So you want to treat yourself by going out to a special dinner with your special someone. So you arrive at the restaurant you always go to. Even though it’s not crowded you wait 25 minutes for the host to greet you. You get seated at a rickety table—but that’s not the worst of it—it’s covered with other people’s dishes, overflowing ashtrays, and spent drinks. The waitress gives you the menu and the only offering is a burger and fries. You place your order even though you don’t want a burger, and wait an hour before the food arrives. The first bite tells you—this is practically inedible—it’s garbage you wouldn’t feed your dog. The fries are ice cold and taste of rancid oil. Your drinks? Well, they never even arrived.  You receive the bill: $987.00. And you gladly pay it. As you leave the host calls out, “See you tomorrow,” and you know he’s right. Why do you do this? Why keep returning for poor service, bad food, and crazy prices? Because you have no choice.

This is exactly what is going on in Phila. Public schools. Taxpayers pay exorbitant prices to educate the city’s children—and we all know how badly the schools are doing. Shouldn’t you have the choice where you send your tax dollars? Wouldn’t you better select a school where kids learn and thrive?

School vouchers, a system that relocates where you would spend your tax dollars, are an idea whose time has come. Parents need choice in where they send their kids to school. Today I am going to persuade you vouchers are a good idea because: 1. They are fair; and 2. They will improve public schools.

Conclusion:

Remember that awful restaurant and how shocked you were that anyone would choose to go back? We should have that same sort of outrage about our kids’ education.

EXAMPLE FOUR

I’d like to ask you some questions that may make you uncomfortable:

Do you remember the last time you were sick, with uncontrollable diarrhea?

Where were you?

Do you remember the last time you cried and couldn’t stop?

Where were you?

Do you remember the last time you made love?

Where were you?

Well, there are thousands of people right here in Philadelphia for whom these intimate moments take place in public—not because they’re exhibitionist--because they have no choice.

Today I will persuade you that homelessness is cause by 1. Low minimum wage; 2. an affordable housing crisis; and  a 3.lack of job training.

How might you use these?

Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe if long but it bends towards justice.”

Shelly said, “All things exist as they are perceived …The mind is its own place and of itself can make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven.”

Vita Sackville West said, "I worshipped dead men for their strength--forgetting I was strong."