Translator: Peter van de Ven Reviewer: Denise RQ
I love to people watch.
I’m enjoying this right now.
Anybody else?
I especially love to people watch in big crowded spaces, like the mall.
You know, there are no expectations of me in a mall.
I can be like a fly on a wall,
just watching.
I can be who I am and enjoy watching other people be who they want to be.
It’s like experiencing the divine intersection
with just some wonderful personalities.
My family and I lived in Europe for well over ten years,
and I had the opportunity to experience the divinity of other people
from so many different cultures, so many different parts of the world.
But there was this one particular day.
I was people watching in a shopping mall in Germany.
There’s this woman,
she was trying to find something to wear to what I thought was a date.
She was incredibly frustrated.
And being the deliciously fabulous and helpful person that I am-
Wait, I should explain that, shouldn’t I?
See, I believe that life is supposed to be yummy.
It should taste good; it should be delicious.
And as yum yum ambassador,
my purpose in this life is somehow wrapped up
in letting you know just how delicious it can be.
I try to influence the flavor, with every encounter,
just to make people feel a little better, you know?
So, I asked this woman if I could help.
And she seemed genuinely happy for my attention.
We became best friends for about three and a half hours.
We found outfit after outfit for her to try on, and she bought a few.
I even blessed her for it with some accessories.
It was so much fun!
We parted ways with, “Gott segne dich,” that’s ‘God bless you’ in German.
You know, I never got her name, and I don’t remember giving her mine.
But that didn’t matter because that was just a normal day for me.
You know, influencing the flavor of someone’s life, making them smile.
And I had no idea just how much I affected her that day.
You see, she had been looking for me.
She was describing me around our community.
And you know, it wasn’t that hard.
Black woman, in Germany, big hair, big popo.
(Laughter)
Three weeks later, I got this phone call.
The person on the other end of the line introduced herself as Silke,
and started to remind me of how we met in the mall.
(German) “Ja, ja, wie geht es Dir? (English) I remember. How are you?
Did you find somewhere great to wear those clothes?”
And, you know, she paused for a minute.
And what she said next, I will never forget.
She wanted to thank me for being nice to her that day,
for being kind and making her laugh.
“Simone, (German) vielen Dank.
(English) You were very kind to me in Breuningerland that day.
You had no idea how much I needed your smile,
your laughter, and your energy.
I thank ‘Gott’ for you.
You see, I lost my son, my only son
on the ‘Autobahn.’
And that day, I was shopping for clothes
that I would be found in when they found my lifeless body.”
I was stunned, stunned into silence.
You see, there are no coincidences in life.
It is not by happenstance
that every one of you are in this particular building
at this specific moment in time.
But we don’t always pay attention to the people
that cross our paths every day;
we ignore so much.
But there are times when our spirit, with a capital S,
reminds us that our specific personalities
are absolutely necessary.
The individuals that we are – we’re necessary.
You see,
I’ve worn every mask you can imagine for my life,
trying to fit in to where people said I should be.
I dimmed my light just a little
because maybe somebody thought I was too bright.
Or I’d shrunk because they wanted to feel bigger around me.
But on that day, in that store,
with that perfect stranger,
I was my most authentic self.
Silke and I had a loud, bright, beautiful good time,
and just that simple expression of who I really am
gave her permission to feel joy again, to find life worth living.
I just think that’s a wonderful thing.
So, I came to tell you today
to influence the flavor of your life,
that who you are matters;
doesn’t matter what you look like – big popo or no popo
(Laughter)
black, white, it doesn’t matter.
When you operate in this world as your authentic self,
some things are going to happen.
You’ll discover a power that you could never know.
You see, there’s a seed inside of us that was placed there by God,
and God can be whomever you want God to be,
I’m not here to influence you in that way,
but there is a seed inside of each and every one of us.
We call it potential.
You know, there’s a law of reciprocity that says, “You reap what you sow.”
You’ve heard it, right?
Well, you don’t reap just what you sow,
you reap more than you sow, and you reap far longer than you’ve sowed.
So, that seed, it has the potential to be a tree or even a forest.
And those seeds speak to us every now and again,
and they say, “Hey! Will you water me? Will you nurture me?
I just want to grow for you.”
And that’s just you being called back to yourself.
You know, some of us were meant to be forests.
The seed planted inside Dr. King
produced a forest that grew trees that stood in the same truth.
Some of us were meant to be flowers, gardens.
But none of us were intended to be just a seed.
Yet, how many of us die with that seed still there,
never having been allowed to grow?
How many?
You see, your authenticity exposes your purpose.
And your purpose is just your ‘why.’
It was Mark Twain who said
the two most important days in a person’s life
are one, the day that you’re born,
and two, the day that you figure out why.
And your purpose is your ‘why.’
You see, I found that my purpose is just to build people a little,
to influence the flavor – just a little.
Just a little.
What’s your purpose?
Unless you take away the mask,
you’ll never be able to access the power of your potential.
Never.
Never is a very long time.
But once you access that power,
and you discover your purpose,
in your authenticity you get acquainted with some very different people.
People that are placed here just to water your potential,
just to nurture that seed on the inside,
just to build you up and lift you
to the top of your life’s mountain.
Now, you might be asking yourself, “How do I do that?
How do I operate in authenticity?”
Well, I can tell you how I did it.
See, I refused to let anybody tell me what I’m supposed to be.
No one gets to say how big or how small I can be;
no one gets to say how loud my voice can be,
how bright my light can be.
I listen to that seed on the inside and nurture it with possibility.
You can do the same.
Maybe you’ll find that you have the potential to be the next Oprah,
or a prolific playwright like James Baldwin.
Or maybe you’re Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft,
or maybe our beloved 44: Barack Obama.
But you could be a 16-year-old girl named Cindy,
who was born with Down syndrome,
who teaches me, every time I see her, how to love unconditionally.
Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom who chose to raise her children
to be citizens of this country.
See, no one has more value than the other.
Who you are matters, and that’s what I came to share with you.
I just want you to know that ideas
have no power if they’re not offered to the world.
It can be the greatest idea ever,
but if you don’t share it, it’s meaningless.
And who you are,
the authenticity of who you are
is so valuable.
What you came to bring to the world is not only enough,
but it’s necessary.
And when you become who you were meant to be,
when you offer the world what God put inside of you,
you feed me.
And when you don’t, I die hungry.
You have a responsibility to live up to your potential.
So, when you become who you’re supposed to be,
when you take off the mask,
when you stop shrinking to make other people feel bigger,
when you know that your light can never cast a shadow on anyone else
– as a matter of fact,
you become a beacon to encourage those around you
to let their light shine –
when you become who you really are,
you just might get an opportunity like I did:
to save someone’s life.
Because your authenticity really does matter.
Thank you.
(Applause)
I love to people watch.
I’m enjoying this right now.
Anybody else?
I especially love to people watch in big crowded spaces, like the mall.
You know, there are no expectations of me in a mall.
I can be like a fly on a wall,
just watching.
I can be who I am and enjoy watching other people be who they want to be.
It’s like experiencing the divine intersection
with just some wonderful personalities.
My family and I lived in Europe for well over ten years,
and I had the opportunity to experience the divinity of other people
from so many different cultures, so many different parts of the world.
But there was this one particular day.
I was people watching in a shopping mall in Germany.
There’s this woman,
she was trying to find something to wear to what I thought was a date.
She was incredibly frustrated.
And being the deliciously fabulous and helpful person that I am-
Wait, I should explain that, shouldn’t I?
See, I believe that life is supposed to be yummy.
It should taste good; it should be delicious.
And as yum yum ambassador,
my purpose in this life is somehow wrapped up
in letting you know just how delicious it can be.
I try to influence the flavor, with every encounter,
just to make people feel a little better, you know?
So, I asked this woman if I could help.
And she seemed genuinely happy for my attention.
We became best friends for about three and a half hours.
We found outfit after outfit for her to try on, and she bought a few.
I even blessed her for it with some accessories.
It was so much fun!
We parted ways with, “Gott segne dich,” that’s ‘God bless you’ in German.
You know, I never got her name, and I don’t remember giving her mine.
But that didn’t matter because that was just a normal day for me.
You know, influencing the flavor of someone’s life, making them smile.
And I had no idea just how much I affected her that day.
You see, she had been looking for me.
She was describing me around our community.
And you know, it wasn’t that hard.
Black woman, in Germany, big hair, big popo.
(Laughter)
Three weeks later, I got this phone call.
The person on the other end of the line introduced herself as Silke,
and started to remind me of how we met in the mall.
(German) “Ja, ja, wie geht es Dir? (English) I remember. How are you?
Did you find somewhere great to wear those clothes?”
And, you know, she paused for a minute.
And what she said next, I will never forget.
She wanted to thank me for being nice to her that day,
for being kind and making her laugh.
“Simone, (German) vielen Dank.
(English) You were very kind to me in Breuningerland that day.
You had no idea how much I needed your smile,
your laughter, and your energy.
I thank ‘Gott’ for you.
You see, I lost my son, my only son
on the ‘Autobahn.’
And that day, I was shopping for clothes
that I would be found in when they found my lifeless body.”
I was stunned, stunned into silence.
You see, there are no coincidences in life.
It is not by happenstance
that every one of you are in this particular building
at this specific moment in time.
But we don’t always pay attention to the people
that cross our paths every day;
we ignore so much.
But there are times when our spirit, with a capital S,
reminds us that our specific personalities
are absolutely necessary.
The individuals that we are – we’re necessary.
You see,
I’ve worn every mask you can imagine for my life,
trying to fit in to where people said I should be.
I dimmed my light just a little
because maybe somebody thought I was too bright.
Or I’d shrunk because they wanted to feel bigger around me.
But on that day, in that store,
with that perfect stranger,
I was my most authentic self.
Silke and I had a loud, bright, beautiful good time,
and just that simple expression of who I really am
gave her permission to feel joy again, to find life worth living.
I just think that’s a wonderful thing.
So, I came to tell you today
to influence the flavor of your life,
that who you are matters;
doesn’t matter what you look like – big popo or no popo
(Laughter)
black, white, it doesn’t matter.
When you operate in this world as your authentic self,
some things are going to happen.
You’ll discover a power that you could never know.
You see, there’s a seed inside of us that was placed there by God,
and God can be whomever you want God to be,
I’m not here to influence you in that way,
but there is a seed inside of each and every one of us.
We call it potential.
You know, there’s a law of reciprocity that says, “You reap what you sow.”
You’ve heard it, right?
Well, you don’t reap just what you sow,
you reap more than you sow, and you reap far longer than you’ve sowed.
So, that seed, it has the potential to be a tree or even a forest.
And those seeds speak to us every now and again,
and they say, “Hey! Will you water me? Will you nurture me?
I just want to grow for you.”
And that’s just you being called back to yourself.
You know, some of us were meant to be forests.
The seed planted inside Dr. King
produced a forest that grew trees that stood in the same truth.
Some of us were meant to be flowers, gardens.
But none of us were intended to be just a seed.
Yet, how many of us die with that seed still there,
never having been allowed to grow?
How many?
You see, your authenticity exposes your purpose.
And your purpose is just your ‘why.’
It was Mark Twain who said
the two most important days in a person’s life
are one, the day that you’re born,
and two, the day that you figure out why.
And your purpose is your ‘why.’
You see, I found that my purpose is just to build people a little,
to influence the flavor – just a little.
Just a little.
What’s your purpose?
Unless you take away the mask,
you’ll never be able to access the power of your potential.
Never.
Never is a very long time.
But once you access that power,
and you discover your purpose,
in your authenticity you get acquainted with some very different people.
People that are placed here just to water your potential,
just to nurture that seed on the inside,
just to build you up and lift you
to the top of your life’s mountain.
Now, you might be asking yourself, “How do I do that?
How do I operate in authenticity?”
Well, I can tell you how I did it.
See, I refused to let anybody tell me what I’m supposed to be.
No one gets to say how big or how small I can be;
no one gets to say how loud my voice can be,
how bright my light can be.
I listen to that seed on the inside and nurture it with possibility.
You can do the same.
Maybe you’ll find that you have the potential to be the next Oprah,
or a prolific playwright like James Baldwin.
Or maybe you’re Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft,
or maybe our beloved 44: Barack Obama.
But you could be a 16-year-old girl named Cindy,
who was born with Down syndrome,
who teaches me, every time I see her, how to love unconditionally.
Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom who chose to raise her children
to be citizens of this country.
See, no one has more value than the other.
Who you are matters, and that’s what I came to share with you.
I just want you to know that ideas
have no power if they’re not offered to the world.
It can be the greatest idea ever,
but if you don’t share it, it’s meaningless.
And who you are,
the authenticity of who you are
is so valuable.
What you came to bring to the world is not only enough,
but it’s necessary.
And when you become who you were meant to be,
when you offer the world what God put inside of you,
you feed me.
And when you don’t, I die hungry.
You have a responsibility to live up to your potential.
So, when you become who you’re supposed to be,
when you take off the mask,
when you stop shrinking to make other people feel bigger,
when you know that your light can never cast a shadow on anyone else
– as a matter of fact,
you become a beacon to encourage those around you
to let their light shine –
when you become who you really are,
you just might get an opportunity like I did:
to save someone’s life.
Because your authenticity really does matter.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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