hungry poor have you ever been all of
those things at the same time as I have
and I have come a long way from where I
was to where I am I started in a little
cabin in the hills of humble county and
graduated to melody trailer park where I
kicked around in the school of hard
knocks for about a decade before I
managed to get myself to New York went
to the Culinary Institute of America
back to the west coast san francisco
honing my skills as a chef and i met a
beautiful woman that I convinced to be
my wife and we are now the co-owners and
I am the Executive Chef of moonstone
bistro and I am here to tell you a truth
it’s an unpopular truth and it’s a
provocative truth it’s a truth that you
already know that but we don’t really
say it in public that often and the
truth is a lot of people would rather
take rather than earn and not every high
school kid that graduates from high
school deserves a huge salary and no
matter how many laws we pass we will
never really be able to protect
ourselves from ourselves and we are not
created equal we are not all the same
now before you think about sexism racism
or intolerance please understand I’m not
here to talk about these things these
things are born from hey these are
narrow-minded cloistered points of view
that come from people who have a lack of
opportunity a lack of education and they
just don’t understand the great leaps
forward that society makes when it is
open and it integrates no I’m here to
talk about love love for ourselves love
for our community and how this great
love is pushing society to protect us
from all things real or imagined all the
time
no matter what in fact it’s getting the
point now where we pass laws banning
objects and actions and now we’re
starting to ban emotions feelings loss
hurts loss feels terrible so we ban loss
we also been diving boards we ban peanut
butter and strawberries from school we
ban gluten all right so we ban all sorts
of feelings we don’t like loss loss
hurts so we ban loss by making sure
everybody gets a trophy everybody wins
we throw full on formal graduations for
kindergarten like first grade second
grade we ban hurt feelings by telling
ourselves that we are all the same that
no one is better than anyone else we ban
rejection and jealousy by making sure
that everybody gets the same slice of
pie or we all get to go to the same
parties everybody gets to go to pizza is
this wise what’s the message that if you
work hard that if you struggle that if
you study that if you show up every day
you get the same reward as those who
don’t do we really want to instill in
discuss our society the idea that
success is shunned because someone’s
success will hurt someone else’s
feelings hmmm we need to relax we need
to step away from this
protect ourselves from all things this
micromanaging helicopter parenting
bubble wrapping all things and we need
to start telling the truth ourselves to
our loved ones to our community I guess
I’ll go first so if I were to tell you
that I mm was an NFL linebacker yeah
you’d have reservations about that why
because I’m not big enough I’m not
strong enough I’m not fast enough I am
not physically equal get over it I had
to lay well what about intellect then
surely we’re all the same smart hey I
don’t really understand string theory I
didn’t invent Microsoft I didn’t create
the iphone so I’m not the smartest
person in the room in fact there are
lots of people smarter than I am and
while I’m at it there’s people better
looking than I am taller than I am more
charismatic more altruistic they have
more hair there are hundreds if not
thousands of traits ranging from the
physical to the psychological that we as
humans have as our differences and there
are lots of people who have had every
advantage every opportunity and then I’m
doing that well I can’t seem to keep it
together so what motivates us why are we
different what makes us special
yeah I like that sled so we as children
learn very early on the tools that we
need to survive in our environment and
as we grow through adolescence we
continually update this learning
mechanism with new information in order
to always achieve an outcome that best
suits our needs adversity is the
catalyst to this learning mechanism it
is said that necessity is the mother of
invention I propose that adversity is
the father of ingenuity adversity
invites us to exercise our intellect to
challenge our mind to overcome problems
to develop the talent of being clever
and shrewd or suffer the consequences
because adversity will also punish us it
will force us to be stark to be burdened
to be weary to be sad to be miserable it
is these two outcomes success or failure
that define our future selves as an
example for me on a platter now I grew
up in a little tiny cabin way in the
remote hills of humble county no indoor
plumbing no electricity no telephone no
HBO hmm no no problems were everywhere
but my parents loved me and they were
determined when we were cold you can
just walk into the house and turn on the
heater no yet to get a chainsaw he had
to get a deadfall you had to cut down
the tree yet haul it back to the house
we had to chop up fire wouldn’t had to
build a fire our wood stove became its
own entity within our house that stove
we learned its intricacies as if it had
a personality of its own our well-being
and safety were
only linked to that piece of equipment
and this became true with all things
tools became sacred and adaptable like a
screwdriver could be a pry bar it could
be a bottle opener it could be a plunger
and sometimes a key jammed into the
ignition of our old international truck
we used kerosene lamps when I got dark
if I wanted to do anything I had to
prove myself worthy of fire and fuel
well this is California no fire station
where I’m from so a little kid running
around with kerosene lamp that should be
terrifying but I knew that when my
parents gave me my own kerosene lamp I
was afforded zero mistakes not one ever
I knew the difference between a toy and
a tool and that kind of adversity breeds
great responsibility adversity also
breeds and nurtures independence I was
17 I was done like screw this country
living I wanted to move into town so I
got a job I rented a trailer right I had
electricity I was on my own I had
running water at toilet that flushed I
wanted a girlfriend I wanted to get a
so moving out was anti-climactic it was
natural it was normal my parents didn’t
put up a fuss I had earned it proven it
at that point in time asking for things
was not how things got done doing things
was how things got done adversity makes
us strong like our body our mind becomes
stronger when it has to overcome
problems when it has to create solutions
adversity actually gives us the tools
that we need to deal with the complex
emotions of pain sorrow suffering loss
we need adversity adversity gives us
strength of character now too much
adversity will kill an organism it’s
true you can seriously maim or forever
wound something but if we bubble wrap
every bump if we safety scissor every
sharp edge can we actually create an
organism so sensitive so fragile that it
cannot endure consequence loss failure
criticism if you plant grapes on a rocky
steep hillside and give it just barely
enough water to survive those grapes
will create the richest and most complex
wine so maybe we as a society would
rather blame our lack on an unfair
system then suffer the thought that we
have to work
harder for what we want work is a
privilege you’re not owed a job but good
news work is everywhere the question is
do you want to do it will you mop will
you sweep will you do dishes will you
change the oil in a car you know what
the problem with work is it’s hot it’s
dirty it’s inconvenient it’s loud it’s
cold it has to be done on your birthday
work by its very nature is an adverse
look life isn’t fair it’s true and it’s
a hard truth and the other truth is
nobody’s gonna give you anything another
truth is if you want an empire you’re
going to have to go out and build one
with your bare hands but that’s cool
because we love grit oh yeah James Bond
La Femme Nikita Rosie the Riveter han
Solo these are our heroes we love the
people who never stop the ones who do
what needs to be done so maybe we need
to step back maybe we need to allow
ourselves the grace and dignity of
suffering the consequences of our
mistakes because it will make us better
whatever happened to if it doesn’t kill
you it makes you stronger we need to
allow ourselves the grace of going
through the pain of change and learning
because it will make us smarter we have
all been for
by what we have overcome so I’ll ask you
again have you ever been cold tired
dirty wet hungry loss can make us great
thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]