30 years ago I was in a required speech class at Jr College. During the class before Thanksgiving, our teacher offered us the chance to "win" $5 by delivering an impromptu persuasive speech on why we deserved the money. Most of my classmates declined of course. The few who didn't gave speeches centered around various sob stories: needing gas in their car, sick pets at home, overdue college tuition and the like. I took a chance at the money as well, mostly because … 1/4