I was in second grade the first time I
felt compelled to stand up for somebody
that was different than me
I remember hearing that a kid had made
fun of one of my best friends who was
Taiwanese and I remember so vividly
racing across the blacktop weaving in
and out of kids that were playing
Foursquare and jumping rope just to get
up to this kid and to tell him to stop I
felt really good I felt proud to stand
up for her I couldn’t believe that
someone would make fun of somebody else
for their nationality or their race it
was just my first glimpse into the world
that we live in
I’ve always felt different I think
that’s why since I was a kid I’ve
literally felt like my chest is bursting
with compassion for other people my mom
and dad always taught me to treat people
the way that I wish to be treated and
that’s how I live my life it’s Who I am
and I always wish from when I was a
young girl that when people found out
that I was different that they would
still be nice to me you can’t see my
difference when you look at me you can’t
see when you look at me that I’m married
to a woman that I spent much of my
adolescence talking myself into
believing that I was worth it enough to
live even though I was gay scattering
sunshine is my life’s passion and I do
it every day and I feel so fortunate to
be able to influence young people and
help them feel more positively about
themselves I do it on a daily basis
whether it’s just saying hello to
somebody remembering what somebody said
or just being a friend a listening ear I
watched my son eat ice cream for the
first time on a strangely warm November
day it happened to be the day after the
election and I remember sitting there
with him and I felt really discouraged I
was discouraged about how divided our
country was at that time and as I
watched him I thought about everything
that was going on in the world in my
life I’ve never seen racial tensions so
strong religious groups targeted LGBT
people facing inequality daily and
political groups so divided so I sat
there watching my son with chocolate all
over his face
it was the epitome of childhood
innocence and I was taken back by the
Sun as it was hitting my face and it was
this very literal reminder that it was
time to refocus that there was no time
to sulk or wonder what kind of world our
son would grow up in it was time to get
to work scattering sunshine we live in a
time right now where being politically
correct is often looked down upon or
even laughed at somewhere along the line
our opinion has become one of the only
things that we can hear and we fight
against the opposition not knowing or
thinking about the damages that we may
be creating we hear from a mother that
has just lost her son and she tells us
that black lives matter and instead of
embracing her we fight against her what
if we reframe our judgments towards each
other and change those into genuine acts
of understanding or trying to understand
someone else’s view being politically
correct is not about being right or
agreeing with somebody or having the
loudest voice it’s about being able to
put yourself in someone else’s shoes and
understand their experiences you may
still disagree but you’re able to do so
with compassion and respect I think a
better way to put it instead of
politically correct is compassionately
correct I think right now more than ever
we have a human obligation to be
compassionately correct to each other to
our brothers and sisters we have a human
obligation to scatter sunshine to simply
be nice to other people to smile at them
to say hello we can do this together and
in fact we can only do this together I
used to want to be the change that I
wish to see in the world but I realized
that I’m just one woman in one place so
I try to do small acts with great love
and I do so on a daily basis at a
grassroots roots level and I do this by
scattering sunshine
and trying to get other people to join
me so when you’re walking across the
sidewalk wherever you’re at put your
phone down look at the person that’s
passing you look that person in the eye
and say hello what if you did this and
they really knew that you meant it what
if would you’re having a conversation
with somebody you remember what they
said remembering matters what if when
someone’s crying you extend your arm to
them and you put it around them so that
you know that you’re there for them they
know that they’re not alone
scattering sunshine isn’t always pretty
or happy I believe right now we’re at a
crossroads right now in this moment and
we have to band together to reach across
to people that don’t look like us they
don’t believe in the same things as we
do and maybe don’t act the same way we
have a responsibility to reach out to
other people I’m going to always be the
person that races across the blacktop to
stand up for somebody that’s different
than me and I hope that you will join me
in scattering sunshine as well just
imagine just imagine what we could do
and how far we could reach with our
sunshine rays thank you
[Applause]
you
felt compelled to stand up for somebody
that was different than me
I remember hearing that a kid had made
fun of one of my best friends who was
Taiwanese and I remember so vividly
racing across the blacktop weaving in
and out of kids that were playing
Foursquare and jumping rope just to get
up to this kid and to tell him to stop I
felt really good I felt proud to stand
up for her I couldn’t believe that
someone would make fun of somebody else
for their nationality or their race it
was just my first glimpse into the world
that we live in
I’ve always felt different I think
that’s why since I was a kid I’ve
literally felt like my chest is bursting
with compassion for other people my mom
and dad always taught me to treat people
the way that I wish to be treated and
that’s how I live my life it’s Who I am
and I always wish from when I was a
young girl that when people found out
that I was different that they would
still be nice to me you can’t see my
difference when you look at me you can’t
see when you look at me that I’m married
to a woman that I spent much of my
adolescence talking myself into
believing that I was worth it enough to
live even though I was gay scattering
sunshine is my life’s passion and I do
it every day and I feel so fortunate to
be able to influence young people and
help them feel more positively about
themselves I do it on a daily basis
whether it’s just saying hello to
somebody remembering what somebody said
or just being a friend a listening ear I
watched my son eat ice cream for the
first time on a strangely warm November
day it happened to be the day after the
election and I remember sitting there
with him and I felt really discouraged I
was discouraged about how divided our
country was at that time and as I
watched him I thought about everything
that was going on in the world in my
life I’ve never seen racial tensions so
strong religious groups targeted LGBT
people facing inequality daily and
political groups so divided so I sat
there watching my son with chocolate all
over his face
it was the epitome of childhood
innocence and I was taken back by the
Sun as it was hitting my face and it was
this very literal reminder that it was
time to refocus that there was no time
to sulk or wonder what kind of world our
son would grow up in it was time to get
to work scattering sunshine we live in a
time right now where being politically
correct is often looked down upon or
even laughed at somewhere along the line
our opinion has become one of the only
things that we can hear and we fight
against the opposition not knowing or
thinking about the damages that we may
be creating we hear from a mother that
has just lost her son and she tells us
that black lives matter and instead of
embracing her we fight against her what
if we reframe our judgments towards each
other and change those into genuine acts
of understanding or trying to understand
someone else’s view being politically
correct is not about being right or
agreeing with somebody or having the
loudest voice it’s about being able to
put yourself in someone else’s shoes and
understand their experiences you may
still disagree but you’re able to do so
with compassion and respect I think a
better way to put it instead of
politically correct is compassionately
correct I think right now more than ever
we have a human obligation to be
compassionately correct to each other to
our brothers and sisters we have a human
obligation to scatter sunshine to simply
be nice to other people to smile at them
to say hello we can do this together and
in fact we can only do this together I
used to want to be the change that I
wish to see in the world but I realized
that I’m just one woman in one place so
I try to do small acts with great love
and I do so on a daily basis at a
grassroots roots level and I do this by
scattering sunshine
and trying to get other people to join
me so when you’re walking across the
sidewalk wherever you’re at put your
phone down look at the person that’s
passing you look that person in the eye
and say hello what if you did this and
they really knew that you meant it what
if would you’re having a conversation
with somebody you remember what they
said remembering matters what if when
someone’s crying you extend your arm to
them and you put it around them so that
you know that you’re there for them they
know that they’re not alone
scattering sunshine isn’t always pretty
or happy I believe right now we’re at a
crossroads right now in this moment and
we have to band together to reach across
to people that don’t look like us they
don’t believe in the same things as we
do and maybe don’t act the same way we
have a responsibility to reach out to
other people I’m going to always be the
person that races across the blacktop to
stand up for somebody that’s different
than me and I hope that you will join me
in scattering sunshine as well just
imagine just imagine what we could do
and how far we could reach with our
sunshine rays thank you
[Applause]
you
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