[Music]
who made the world the first line of
merry Oliver’s poem the summer day she
finds inspiration in nature she sees the
familiar through fresh eyes the
architecture of a leaf the perfection in
a pine cone she’s not stopping to smell
the flowers no she she’s discovering the
poetry among the weeds who made the
world well a couple nights ago I looked
up you know what I saw a whole lot a
lotta Lotta that’s what I saw there no
clouds so there were just stars stars
and the world looked expansive hmm so I
started to contemplate the grand design
did you know that from here to the Sun
93 million miles oh and get this
you can fit 1.3 million planet Earth’s
into the Sun well not that you’d want to
it’s not actually very proud anyway the
point is the point is compared to the
Sun the earth is just speck and if the
earth is a speck what does that make us
you know there should be a trigger
warning for looking up because the more
you see the more you see that your hopes
and your dreams and your wishes and your
success and your pride it wouldn’t even
begin to fill a speck of a speck of a
speck of a speck of a speck so how on
earth do we even matter
isn’t this a great pep talk yeah I know
I feel better already
yeah I went to Concordia College right
down the way I lived in the dorms now
the dorms are very nice don’t get me
wrong but you know dorms are dorms every
floor looks like the next one or the
last one one night a guy we’re gonna
call Robbie came home very early slash
late and he discovered that his key
didn’t work the door didn’t open and
this really bothered him you see
Robbie had been out enjoying beverages
with his buddies so he was but he was
totally behaved past his bedtime too
much Sabra kool-aid so he decided whoa
wait a second
my roommates home I’m just gonna I’m
gonna knock it’s late / early I’m just
gonna knock so he knocked no answer okay
knocks again no answer what wait I heard
somebody he’s in there and I’m out here
so he decides he’s gonna kick the door
so he’s a door little kick
nothing another kick nothing after about
15 16 ticks well there was something his
roommate click unlocks the door stumbles
back to bed Robbie he hits the hay he’s
out like a light
well the next morning Robbie wakes up to
discover that he is in somebody else’s
bed in the wrong room on the wrong floor
you see Goldilocks here he lives in 301
this is 201 you know in our society
there’s this idea that we have to kick
down the door we have to beat down the
door in order to be successful why
you’re just gonna end up in somebody
else’s room probably in somebody else’s
bed let’s just go through the doors that
open you know a closed door and an open
door the most divine answers you will
ever
get go through the doors that open this
is Van Cliburn he became he became a
rock star you guys taller rock star
after he won a piano contest I know stay
stay with me on this one he won a piano
competition is 1958 it was the height of
the Cold War the Soviets the u.s. they
were in the seismic power struggle and
the Soviets decided they’re going to
have an International Piano Competition
well no contest really is gonna be held
in Moscow with Russian judges Russian
audience possibly a Russian winner until
Van Cliburn showed up in American just
23 years old and he dazzled them and he
charmed them and he won he won because
he was undeniable and when he won we did
too
because when the Russian people met him
heard him play well they started to see
all Americans in a fresh new way and
that was the night the Cold War began to
thaw Van Cliburn changed the
geopolitical course of history and he
didn’t new with his Smith and Wesson
he did it with a Steinway this kid from
Texas
how does that happen how does he change
the world door number one is his mama
mama Clyburn real de B she was a cow no
teacher in town taught him how to play
until he was 17 he went to New York when
she was young she had also studied in
New York and her teacher was a man named
Arthur of free time
Arthur free time Arthur free time door
number two studied with a composer named
Franz Liszt and Franz Liszt his teacher
was Carl Czerny the father of modern
piano technique the Cherney method and
Shirley’s teacher was Beethoven and
Beethoven’s teacher was neva and EFA’s
teacher was hell are and Hiller’s
teacher was home Elias and his teacher
was Johann Sebastian Bach as it turns
out the journey from here to the Sun
isn’t so far after all
I used to teach community college
part-time but I ended up being a
full-time mentor I taught Stephen at a
community college in East Los Angeles
well class started in about a weekend he
comes to me and he asks if he can read
something to me something he’s been
working on sure no worries now Stephen
has no public speaking back on none I
had no expectations but Wow Wow no words
today it was the worst speech I’d ever
heard it’s just but somewhere along the
way and that mess of a performance I
heard something this speech was a
dramatic interpretation of literature
basically a play scene from a play and
part of a performers job is to figure
out the character who are you what do
you want how are you going to get it and
Stephen was making these choices
naturally he was making he was making
character choices like 90% of the kids
in that school Stephen is Latino and the
first his family to go to college like
his friends you know took him a minute
to get his bearings for example when I
met him he was still majoring in the
most popular of all subjects undecided
he had the will but no way his second
speech well he had to describe riding a
Harley Davidson and he had never touched
one you know I had some friends ride
Harley’s for a hobby
she’s a television star her husband is a
successful businessperson could we just
drive up to the house and you just you
just see I’m sure no no worries come on
up so on the appointed day we drive up
to Beverly Hills and the homes there are
hmm they’re spectacular
they’re important looking and my friends
are really down to earth and they came
out and they greeted us and they said
well Stephen do you want to go for a
ride do you want to go for a ride of
course he wants to go for a ride
they were off they were off when they
returned he was his beaming was so
excited for so exciting but on the drive
back to my place
he was really quiet really quiet I just
sat there and he just sat there and we
didn’t look at each other’s guys do
funny I said well what’s and he said
I don’t want to be a nothing those words
just seared into our
then be something not year with that
speech he became a national gold speech
champion the first in our colleges
history and now the eyes of Texas were
upon him and they gave him a scholarship
to transfer their to be on the national
championship team and in a few days
he’ll be walking onto the campus of the
mighty Trojans USC to begin his master’s
degree at a communication school that
happens to be one of the top on the
planet Steven made himself undeniable
and he did it by making character
choices Who am I what do I want how am I
gonna get it you know when you you
mentor somebody like Steven it’s
tempting to believe that you are
rescuing them no no because the life or
the life you save might be your own
because now you’re seeing the world
through fresh eyes you’re not just a
speck of aspect of a speck know you are
necessary to this grand design and oh
are you grateful because now you finally
realize that you
you you you are an open door
so who made the world I think we all did
because every day we have a choice to
make the world a little bit better or a
little bit worse so how on earth will
you matter
[Applause]
[Music]
who made the world the first line of
merry Oliver’s poem the summer day she
finds inspiration in nature she sees the
familiar through fresh eyes the
architecture of a leaf the perfection in
a pine cone she’s not stopping to smell
the flowers no she she’s discovering the
poetry among the weeds who made the
world well a couple nights ago I looked
up you know what I saw a whole lot a
lotta Lotta that’s what I saw there no
clouds so there were just stars stars
and the world looked expansive hmm so I
started to contemplate the grand design
did you know that from here to the Sun
93 million miles oh and get this
you can fit 1.3 million planet Earth’s
into the Sun well not that you’d want to
it’s not actually very proud anyway the
point is the point is compared to the
Sun the earth is just speck and if the
earth is a speck what does that make us
you know there should be a trigger
warning for looking up because the more
you see the more you see that your hopes
and your dreams and your wishes and your
success and your pride it wouldn’t even
begin to fill a speck of a speck of a
speck of a speck of a speck so how on
earth do we even matter
isn’t this a great pep talk yeah I know
I feel better already
yeah I went to Concordia College right
down the way I lived in the dorms now
the dorms are very nice don’t get me
wrong but you know dorms are dorms every
floor looks like the next one or the
last one one night a guy we’re gonna
call Robbie came home very early slash
late and he discovered that his key
didn’t work the door didn’t open and
this really bothered him you see
Robbie had been out enjoying beverages
with his buddies so he was but he was
totally behaved past his bedtime too
much Sabra kool-aid so he decided whoa
wait a second
my roommates home I’m just gonna I’m
gonna knock it’s late / early I’m just
gonna knock so he knocked no answer okay
knocks again no answer what wait I heard
somebody he’s in there and I’m out here
so he decides he’s gonna kick the door
so he’s a door little kick
nothing another kick nothing after about
15 16 ticks well there was something his
roommate click unlocks the door stumbles
back to bed Robbie he hits the hay he’s
out like a light
well the next morning Robbie wakes up to
discover that he is in somebody else’s
bed in the wrong room on the wrong floor
you see Goldilocks here he lives in 301
this is 201 you know in our society
there’s this idea that we have to kick
down the door we have to beat down the
door in order to be successful why
you’re just gonna end up in somebody
else’s room probably in somebody else’s
bed let’s just go through the doors that
open you know a closed door and an open
door the most divine answers you will
ever
get go through the doors that open this
is Van Cliburn he became he became a
rock star you guys taller rock star
after he won a piano contest I know stay
stay with me on this one he won a piano
competition is 1958 it was the height of
the Cold War the Soviets the u.s. they
were in the seismic power struggle and
the Soviets decided they’re going to
have an International Piano Competition
well no contest really is gonna be held
in Moscow with Russian judges Russian
audience possibly a Russian winner until
Van Cliburn showed up in American just
23 years old and he dazzled them and he
charmed them and he won he won because
he was undeniable and when he won we did
too
because when the Russian people met him
heard him play well they started to see
all Americans in a fresh new way and
that was the night the Cold War began to
thaw Van Cliburn changed the
geopolitical course of history and he
didn’t new with his Smith and Wesson
he did it with a Steinway this kid from
Texas
how does that happen how does he change
the world door number one is his mama
mama Clyburn real de B she was a cow no
teacher in town taught him how to play
until he was 17 he went to New York when
she was young she had also studied in
New York and her teacher was a man named
Arthur of free time
Arthur free time Arthur free time door
number two studied with a composer named
Franz Liszt and Franz Liszt his teacher
was Carl Czerny the father of modern
piano technique the Cherney method and
Shirley’s teacher was Beethoven and
Beethoven’s teacher was neva and EFA’s
teacher was hell are and Hiller’s
teacher was home Elias and his teacher
was Johann Sebastian Bach as it turns
out the journey from here to the Sun
isn’t so far after all
I used to teach community college
part-time but I ended up being a
full-time mentor I taught Stephen at a
community college in East Los Angeles
well class started in about a weekend he
comes to me and he asks if he can read
something to me something he’s been
working on sure no worries now Stephen
has no public speaking back on none I
had no expectations but Wow Wow no words
today it was the worst speech I’d ever
heard it’s just but somewhere along the
way and that mess of a performance I
heard something this speech was a
dramatic interpretation of literature
basically a play scene from a play and
part of a performers job is to figure
out the character who are you what do
you want how are you going to get it and
Stephen was making these choices
naturally he was making he was making
character choices like 90% of the kids
in that school Stephen is Latino and the
first his family to go to college like
his friends you know took him a minute
to get his bearings for example when I
met him he was still majoring in the
most popular of all subjects undecided
he had the will but no way his second
speech well he had to describe riding a
Harley Davidson and he had never touched
one you know I had some friends ride
Harley’s for a hobby
she’s a television star her husband is a
successful businessperson could we just
drive up to the house and you just you
just see I’m sure no no worries come on
up so on the appointed day we drive up
to Beverly Hills and the homes there are
hmm they’re spectacular
they’re important looking and my friends
are really down to earth and they came
out and they greeted us and they said
well Stephen do you want to go for a
ride do you want to go for a ride of
course he wants to go for a ride
they were off they were off when they
returned he was his beaming was so
excited for so exciting but on the drive
back to my place
he was really quiet really quiet I just
sat there and he just sat there and we
didn’t look at each other’s guys do
funny I said well what’s and he said
I don’t want to be a nothing those words
just seared into our
then be something not year with that
speech he became a national gold speech
champion the first in our colleges
history and now the eyes of Texas were
upon him and they gave him a scholarship
to transfer their to be on the national
championship team and in a few days
he’ll be walking onto the campus of the
mighty Trojans USC to begin his master’s
degree at a communication school that
happens to be one of the top on the
planet Steven made himself undeniable
and he did it by making character
choices Who am I what do I want how am I
gonna get it you know when you you
mentor somebody like Steven it’s
tempting to believe that you are
rescuing them no no because the life or
the life you save might be your own
because now you’re seeing the world
through fresh eyes you’re not just a
speck of aspect of a speck know you are
necessary to this grand design and oh
are you grateful because now you finally
realize that you
you you you are an open door
so who made the world I think we all did
because every day we have a choice to
make the world a little bit better or a
little bit worse so how on earth will
you matter
[Applause]
[Music]
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