[Music]
can you raise your hand if you’re
familiar with the island of Guam I sell
out more people that I expected yeah so
Guam is the Pacific island I was born
and raised in it’s an unincorporated
territory of the United States and it’s
located in Micronesia which is the
smallest of all denita’s you know
Polynesia
there’s Polynesia there’s Melanesia and
enters Micronesia and one of the first
things I learned in kindergarten was
that you couldn’t find Guam on a globe
without using a magnifying glass
imagine a half grown child standing on
shore staring at the expansive horizon
and realizing a single grain of sand is
bigger than his home on a map now I’m
not that half grown child anymore I’m
more like half grown adult I’m like five
five when I got my shoes on but uh when
you’re a tiny kid who grows up in a tiny
house in a very small island you
naturally start to fear how big the rest
of the world really is in a society that
emphasizes the enormity of things being
little is a huge hurdle at school the
bigger kids started roughing me up
because they could when I started coming
home with cuts and bruises my dad
instead of wanting to talk to the
principal decided to teach me how to
fight this guy he always said though
whatever you do don’t start the fight
just make sure you end it
a bunch of my fights ended with me face
flat in the dirt everything I learned
growing up taught me that size will
always be the final measurements of
strength so how could little old me ever
be strong I carried that question with
me for almost all my life and at every
turn it was the same answer a voice
saying you’re too weak
eventually that voice started screaming
you will never be good enough for anyone
or anything and I believed it and it all
started out innocently enough didn’t it
can’t get on the roller coaster because
I’m too short can’t join my division in
football because I’m too light can’t
date girls in heels but then life got a
little more complicated can’t defend the
people I love can’t speak my mind
because I’m too afraid can’t compete
with others in my field of work on a
global scale
you see smallness is a state of mind
that breeds feelings of weakness and
inadequacy that smallness is often
shaped by the physical interactions we
have within our immediate environment we
live in a world that teaches young boys
bigger is better bigger means stronger I
was a tiny kid from a virtually
invisible place so I naturally felt
hopelessly weak for a very long time
until my sister gave birth to her first
son Elijah my eldest nephew everyone in
my family says he reminds them of me
he’s musically inclined he loves to read
he’s emotionally intelligent and he’s
also really small
so when I started seeing myself in him
I grew worried I didn’t want him to
harbor the same self-doubt or ever feel
hopelessly weak but I knew it was
inevitable and I wanted to be that super
awesome uncle who could help him through
it all but how could I do that if I was
stuck in the same place
Eli was my motivation to figure things
out one of the most important things I
did was ask myself in what other ways am
i strong and I realized we need to stop
portraying strength in such a limited
scope if our physical locale affects how
we view ourselves in relation to the
rest of the world then we need to stop
focusing on mass alone the extent of one
strength should not be determined solely
by their size
why because we are so much more than a
push or a pull or a fist and a body if
we can teach young boys at an early age
to go beyond their physical attributes
to look inward to reflect on their
abilities their values their passions
and their knowledge we might have a
world full of young boys who are less
obsessed with proving strength through
how much space they occupy or control or
destroy I viewed myself as this tiny kid
from this tiny island when I should have
been viewing myself as a young man from
Micronesia an entire region rich with
culture and talent and perseverance I
should have seen that right next to Guam
is the Marianas Trench our trench is the
deepest place on this planet it’s a
world so submerged and unexplored we’re
only just beginning to understand what’s
inside of it and I think that’s how we
should view strength
size is not the final measurement true
strength is defined by the depth of our
character and of our potential I didn’t
fully grasp this concept until I wrote
Elijah a letter which eventually turned
into a poem he’s a little too young to
get any of it but I’d like to perform
that poem for you tonight
[Applause]
it’s called a bad influence on my nephew
dear Eli I know how heavy it gets being
so small you feel the weight one day
when he breaks your nose and tells the
principal you fell when everybody
watches but nobody helps and I wish
others would stop believing violence is
the only proof of strength but the world
we live in isn’t always so kind I’d
rather you be prepared than broken
that’s why I’m teaching you how to throw
a punch now coz for small kids like us
poetry will never stop a fist or a bat
or a bullet they’ll make you feel like
your body is a heavy regret but don’t be
sorry for the size of your bones save
your apologies for real mistakes you’re
not God’s accident your hands are more
than white flags your voice is more than
a helpless plea don’t let anyone tell
you that you are too small to be
powerful
remember your blood is my blood and our
blood is a history of overcoming
conquest
so enjoins think to rule you like a
village you call on the fight in your
veins you bare your knuckles like teeth
you defend that valley in your heart you
teach them being big as nothing to do
with how close we stand to the sky but
remember eli there is more to fighting
than bruises or blood more to defend
than pride and body there is more to
strength than muscle breaking bone or
the glory of destruction strength is
love to the capacity to accept others
for who they are the ability to create
meaning out of thin air
remember strength is being a good eldest
brother
teaching family how to make music from
all the world Silas
so you shed your tears Eli but you give
them back to the ocean and don’t you
ever forget the depth of your fighting
spirit cannot be caged by the
measurements of math thank you
[Applause]
can you raise your hand if you’re
familiar with the island of Guam I sell
out more people that I expected yeah so
Guam is the Pacific island I was born
and raised in it’s an unincorporated
territory of the United States and it’s
located in Micronesia which is the
smallest of all denita’s you know
Polynesia
there’s Polynesia there’s Melanesia and
enters Micronesia and one of the first
things I learned in kindergarten was
that you couldn’t find Guam on a globe
without using a magnifying glass
imagine a half grown child standing on
shore staring at the expansive horizon
and realizing a single grain of sand is
bigger than his home on a map now I’m
not that half grown child anymore I’m
more like half grown adult I’m like five
five when I got my shoes on but uh when
you’re a tiny kid who grows up in a tiny
house in a very small island you
naturally start to fear how big the rest
of the world really is in a society that
emphasizes the enormity of things being
little is a huge hurdle at school the
bigger kids started roughing me up
because they could when I started coming
home with cuts and bruises my dad
instead of wanting to talk to the
principal decided to teach me how to
fight this guy he always said though
whatever you do don’t start the fight
just make sure you end it
a bunch of my fights ended with me face
flat in the dirt everything I learned
growing up taught me that size will
always be the final measurements of
strength so how could little old me ever
be strong I carried that question with
me for almost all my life and at every
turn it was the same answer a voice
saying you’re too weak
eventually that voice started screaming
you will never be good enough for anyone
or anything and I believed it and it all
started out innocently enough didn’t it
can’t get on the roller coaster because
I’m too short can’t join my division in
football because I’m too light can’t
date girls in heels but then life got a
little more complicated can’t defend the
people I love can’t speak my mind
because I’m too afraid can’t compete
with others in my field of work on a
global scale
you see smallness is a state of mind
that breeds feelings of weakness and
inadequacy that smallness is often
shaped by the physical interactions we
have within our immediate environment we
live in a world that teaches young boys
bigger is better bigger means stronger I
was a tiny kid from a virtually
invisible place so I naturally felt
hopelessly weak for a very long time
until my sister gave birth to her first
son Elijah my eldest nephew everyone in
my family says he reminds them of me
he’s musically inclined he loves to read
he’s emotionally intelligent and he’s
also really small
so when I started seeing myself in him
I grew worried I didn’t want him to
harbor the same self-doubt or ever feel
hopelessly weak but I knew it was
inevitable and I wanted to be that super
awesome uncle who could help him through
it all but how could I do that if I was
stuck in the same place
Eli was my motivation to figure things
out one of the most important things I
did was ask myself in what other ways am
i strong and I realized we need to stop
portraying strength in such a limited
scope if our physical locale affects how
we view ourselves in relation to the
rest of the world then we need to stop
focusing on mass alone the extent of one
strength should not be determined solely
by their size
why because we are so much more than a
push or a pull or a fist and a body if
we can teach young boys at an early age
to go beyond their physical attributes
to look inward to reflect on their
abilities their values their passions
and their knowledge we might have a
world full of young boys who are less
obsessed with proving strength through
how much space they occupy or control or
destroy I viewed myself as this tiny kid
from this tiny island when I should have
been viewing myself as a young man from
Micronesia an entire region rich with
culture and talent and perseverance I
should have seen that right next to Guam
is the Marianas Trench our trench is the
deepest place on this planet it’s a
world so submerged and unexplored we’re
only just beginning to understand what’s
inside of it and I think that’s how we
should view strength
size is not the final measurement true
strength is defined by the depth of our
character and of our potential I didn’t
fully grasp this concept until I wrote
Elijah a letter which eventually turned
into a poem he’s a little too young to
get any of it but I’d like to perform
that poem for you tonight
[Applause]
it’s called a bad influence on my nephew
dear Eli I know how heavy it gets being
so small you feel the weight one day
when he breaks your nose and tells the
principal you fell when everybody
watches but nobody helps and I wish
others would stop believing violence is
the only proof of strength but the world
we live in isn’t always so kind I’d
rather you be prepared than broken
that’s why I’m teaching you how to throw
a punch now coz for small kids like us
poetry will never stop a fist or a bat
or a bullet they’ll make you feel like
your body is a heavy regret but don’t be
sorry for the size of your bones save
your apologies for real mistakes you’re
not God’s accident your hands are more
than white flags your voice is more than
a helpless plea don’t let anyone tell
you that you are too small to be
powerful
remember your blood is my blood and our
blood is a history of overcoming
conquest
so enjoins think to rule you like a
village you call on the fight in your
veins you bare your knuckles like teeth
you defend that valley in your heart you
teach them being big as nothing to do
with how close we stand to the sky but
remember eli there is more to fighting
than bruises or blood more to defend
than pride and body there is more to
strength than muscle breaking bone or
the glory of destruction strength is
love to the capacity to accept others
for who they are the ability to create
meaning out of thin air
remember strength is being a good eldest
brother
teaching family how to make music from
all the world Silas
so you shed your tears Eli but you give
them back to the ocean and don’t you
ever forget the depth of your fighting
spirit cannot be caged by the
measurements of math thank you
[Applause]
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