Title: Honeysuckle – a magical plant.

So, what is a honeysuckle? As the title of my speech suggests, it’s a plant. If you look it up in the Oxford Dictionary, it says that a honeysuckle is a climbing plant with white, yellow or pink flowers with a sweet smell. However, what the dictionary doesn’t tell you is that a honeysuckle is not an usual plant where people place it in the backyard just to appreciate the beauty of it. A honeysuckle is more than that. It’s actually a herbal plant. Its flower, leaves and roots have been used for medication purpose in China for hundreds of years. It is believed to be able to clear our bodies’ internal heat and detoxify the harmful substances in our bodies. So basically, it’s not just a plant, it’s a healing plant.

So why in the world am I talking about a honeysuckle? Because that is what my name refers to. My Chinese name, RD, when translated into English, means honeysuckle. And my last name is Huang, happens to be the color of a honeysuckle’s flower. So my full name is HRD, what a coincidence.

Well, there have been many stories about this name. Sad stories actually. Because this name, at fist sight, is not exactly a pleasant name. I used to dislike it for a long time. For many years, I hated to introduce myself to others just because of this name. 

"What’s your name? "

"HRD."

"Oh, what a pathetic name! Are you afraid of cold? Do you hate winter that much?"

......

So, what I did was, I swore to myself, once I get the chance, I’ll change my name, I’ll give myself a new name, a refreshing, shining, beautiful and romantic name.

Of course now, when I think back about what I said to myself many years ago, I’m glad I didn’t change my name. Because as I aged, I started to think about this name, in a deeper sense. I mean I knew my name was a plant from the very beginning. But why this one? There are so many plants and flowers with lovely names, why honeysuckle？Instead of questioning my parents, I secretly did a little research. Then I learned that unlike most tender and fragile flowers, honeysuckles are very tough plants. They grow vigorously everywhere in China, or even in Japan, Korea and North America, and they survive in all types of soil and climate, just like wild grass, they have very strong vitality, full of life and energy. And once I learned all of these, I suddenly became understanding about what my parents were actually hoping for when they gave me this name and I finally came to a reconciliation with my parents for giving me such an unique and irreplaceable name.

As I aged even older, I started to fall in love with this name even more. Despite the strength this plant has, I began to show my interest in its healing function. I really want to have the healing power that a honeysuckle has. Because sometimes I think about the world we are living in today. It’s full of competitions, competitions between colleagues, between companies, between nations. Friendly competitions, unfriendly ones. They obviously have become an indispensable part of our day lives. Competitions are good in a way because it helps us all grow and become stronger selves, and it helps a society to develop. However, as we wrestle with each other and with ourselves in this Jianghu each day, please, spare yourself some time so you can look up at the blue sky, smell the lovely flowers, listen to the humming birds, go into the nature, sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee, feel the world and feels ourselves, until we make this world a healing place. So says HRD, a yellow honeysuckle.