Earlier today, I was thinking about when you go to visit your old teachers. And hands-down the number one question that they ask you is: What advice do you have for my current students? I've been thinking about that and this is what I came up with:
• Don’t be scared of anything, but be open to everything
• Let allow others tell you who you are
• Just be yourself
• Forget about what other people think about you
• Do any extra credit available
• Take hold of opportunities you are given
• Don’t be afraid to try new things
• Give your 100%
• Stop comparing yourself to others
• Never be afraid to think a little outside of the box
• Voice your thought/opinions
• Express yourself
• Be a kid-just have fun
• Make lots a friends
• Share a smile
• Laugh ‘till you’re out of breath
• If your thinking about trying something new, just try it if you don’t
like it you don’t like it, but you won’t regret never having tried,
and if it becomes a passion in your life, you’ll be glad you did it
later on in life
• Choose good friends
• Be a good friend
• Don’t judge others
• Reach out a helping hand
• Don’t put handicaps on yourself
• Don’t get involved in sex, drugs, alcohol, or anything of that sort:
you’ll regret it
• Take lot’s of pictures; you can never have too many
• Hold onto good memories
• Trust your gut instincts
• Don’t be afraid to try something new/ different
• Do what you love and love what you do
• Get involved in the community
• Make a difference (in someone’s life, in your school, in your community,ect.)
• Don’t let go of your dreams (but be realistic)
• Use your talents and forget your weaknesses
• Make wise/ smart choices
• Step up and take action for what you believe in
• Never let a good idea die
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes (but also learn from others mistakes)
• Be persistent (never give up)
• Take risks (but don’t do anything that may be harmful to yourself or others)
• Be willing to admit your mistakes and try to fix them on your own
• Don’t complain
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Inspiration Speech-what is a handicap?
Today I went to a SkillsUSA conference at Renton Technical College, and there was a man there who gave a motivational speech. Now I mean we’ve all heard motivational speeches before, right? And for the most part they’re all the same, but not this one, this speech was extravagant.
Then man, who was giving the speech, Bob, had everyone laughing and crying as he started out by telling us his life story. But you have to understand that Bob doesn’t exactly look like most people, he’s in a wheel chair and he’s missing both legs and his left arm. He joked around about how he looked different because one of his ears is lower than the other. And then joked about losing his arms and legs because he didn’t check a box on the organ donor form, so doctors started taking his legs and arm while he was still alive. And as he joked around about being different we all started to realize that he had accepted his differences and as he joked about it, we all became more accepting of his condition.
Then he told us the real story about how he lost his legs and arm. Bob had some bad friends when he was younger. He was just like any other 16year old, thinking about his future, his appearances, what he wanted to do with his life, all his goals and dreams. But instead of taking off that mask off and being himself, he allowed those friends to influence him. He ended up dropping out of high school and living the life style of an alcoholic. There was a history of alcohol in his family, and once his brother and himself got away with drinking a few times it became more of a ritual. One night as his brother and him were driving home, drunk, after a party they came up to a sharp curve in the road and they went straight into a electrical pole and down a hill into bushes and trees.
When the car came to a stop, they got out of the car looked at each other and laughed. They were both fines, not a single scratch. And they walked away. Bob talked about how walking away, being fine is sometimes the worst thing you’ll ever do. As he came up to the top of the hill, not seeing the down power lines, his left arm hit a power line and he fell to his knees. The electrical shock blew his knee-caps right off and he fell forward getting scars all across the front of his body.
He woke up later in Harborview Medical center, and a nurse came in asking him to sign a form to amputate his left arm, he was really confused until he turned his head and saw the extensive damage to his arm. After six more months in the hospital he ended up getting rid of his legs too. But he talked about how being in a wheelchair isn’t a handicap. And went on to talk about a four month bicycling trip across America with his family (he refers to his wheel chair as a hand bicycle).
Then he grabbed a baseball cap that said, “HANDY” across the top. And he said that that was his only handicap (handy cap! Get it?). Then he went on to say that the only handicaps that we have are the ones that we put on ourselves. Some types of handicaps are attitude, drugs, alcohol, porn, sexting, and the list goes on. He talked about comparing ourselves to others and not being smart enough, or pretty enough, and so on. And he talked about how once we accept ourselves for who we are it makes it easier for the people around us to accept us too.
He talked about how once he accepted himself, he found one really great friend and Bob went on to explain that the difference between a good friend and a bad friend is that a bad friend tries to change you, whereas a good friend accepts you the way you are. He talked about how we all need good friends in our lives. And that great friend that he found is now his wife.
Bob also talked about how we are the most amazing generation of people that’s ever been around. He said that he’s allowed to say that because he’s old and has gray hair. He went on to talk about how when you give any other generation a wheel, they look at it and they make it roll. That’s what it’s supposed to do, right? Everyone knows that. But, give someone in our generation a wheel and we have to make it fly. And he talked about how we have so much access to things because we have the World Wide Web and now technology and information is all at our fingertips.
He talked about how he loves speaking to teenagers better than any other crowd of people because we have dreams. And he talked about how one of us should create a dream meter, so that he could measure the amount of the dreams in that room. He talked about how incredibly lucky we are because as long as we choose not to handicap ourselves, we can reach those dreams and we can do just about everything.
Bob told us about how he decided to go back to school and he graduated high school when he was 30 years old. Then he went on to college and got a degree (in something that I don’t remember) and he went on to work for quite some time. And after awhile he decided to go back to college and get a degree in ministry. Then he talked about his daughter and how she’s really smart and studied hard and she graduated from college with a degree in nursing at the age of 24. Bob explained that although every family has it’s traits that get passed down from generation to generation; we can choose not to continue those traits. He was a high school dropout and his daughter graduated college when she was 24.
Of course there was a lot more to his phenomenal speech than just what I’ve posted here, but I think you get the basics. Bob has used his own personal story to shed a new kind of light on these things. He really brought a new, fresh perspective to life and how we deal with the problems we face in life. How the only handicaps we have are the handicaps that we put on ourselves.
Then man, who was giving the speech, Bob, had everyone laughing and crying as he started out by telling us his life story. But you have to understand that Bob doesn’t exactly look like most people, he’s in a wheel chair and he’s missing both legs and his left arm. He joked around about how he looked different because one of his ears is lower than the other. And then joked about losing his arms and legs because he didn’t check a box on the organ donor form, so doctors started taking his legs and arm while he was still alive. And as he joked around about being different we all started to realize that he had accepted his differences and as he joked about it, we all became more accepting of his condition.
Then he told us the real story about how he lost his legs and arm. Bob had some bad friends when he was younger. He was just like any other 16year old, thinking about his future, his appearances, what he wanted to do with his life, all his goals and dreams. But instead of taking off that mask off and being himself, he allowed those friends to influence him. He ended up dropping out of high school and living the life style of an alcoholic. There was a history of alcohol in his family, and once his brother and himself got away with drinking a few times it became more of a ritual. One night as his brother and him were driving home, drunk, after a party they came up to a sharp curve in the road and they went straight into a electrical pole and down a hill into bushes and trees.
When the car came to a stop, they got out of the car looked at each other and laughed. They were both fines, not a single scratch. And they walked away. Bob talked about how walking away, being fine is sometimes the worst thing you’ll ever do. As he came up to the top of the hill, not seeing the down power lines, his left arm hit a power line and he fell to his knees. The electrical shock blew his knee-caps right off and he fell forward getting scars all across the front of his body.
He woke up later in Harborview Medical center, and a nurse came in asking him to sign a form to amputate his left arm, he was really confused until he turned his head and saw the extensive damage to his arm. After six more months in the hospital he ended up getting rid of his legs too. But he talked about how being in a wheelchair isn’t a handicap. And went on to talk about a four month bicycling trip across America with his family (he refers to his wheel chair as a hand bicycle).
Then he grabbed a baseball cap that said, “HANDY” across the top. And he said that that was his only handicap (handy cap! Get it?). Then he went on to say that the only handicaps that we have are the ones that we put on ourselves. Some types of handicaps are attitude, drugs, alcohol, porn, sexting, and the list goes on. He talked about comparing ourselves to others and not being smart enough, or pretty enough, and so on. And he talked about how once we accept ourselves for who we are it makes it easier for the people around us to accept us too.
He talked about how once he accepted himself, he found one really great friend and Bob went on to explain that the difference between a good friend and a bad friend is that a bad friend tries to change you, whereas a good friend accepts you the way you are. He talked about how we all need good friends in our lives. And that great friend that he found is now his wife.
Bob also talked about how we are the most amazing generation of people that’s ever been around. He said that he’s allowed to say that because he’s old and has gray hair. He went on to talk about how when you give any other generation a wheel, they look at it and they make it roll. That’s what it’s supposed to do, right? Everyone knows that. But, give someone in our generation a wheel and we have to make it fly. And he talked about how we have so much access to things because we have the World Wide Web and now technology and information is all at our fingertips.
He talked about how he loves speaking to teenagers better than any other crowd of people because we have dreams. And he talked about how one of us should create a dream meter, so that he could measure the amount of the dreams in that room. He talked about how incredibly lucky we are because as long as we choose not to handicap ourselves, we can reach those dreams and we can do just about everything.
Bob told us about how he decided to go back to school and he graduated high school when he was 30 years old. Then he went on to college and got a degree (in something that I don’t remember) and he went on to work for quite some time. And after awhile he decided to go back to college and get a degree in ministry. Then he talked about his daughter and how she’s really smart and studied hard and she graduated from college with a degree in nursing at the age of 24. Bob explained that although every family has it’s traits that get passed down from generation to generation; we can choose not to continue those traits. He was a high school dropout and his daughter graduated college when she was 24.
Of course there was a lot more to his phenomenal speech than just what I’ve posted here, but I think you get the basics. Bob has used his own personal story to shed a new kind of light on these things. He really brought a new, fresh perspective to life and how we deal with the problems we face in life. How the only handicaps we have are the handicaps that we put on ourselves.
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