[Applause]
good afternoon um so I just want to
start off with a quick question so raise
your hand if you’ve ever heard of the
mcdonalds happy meal well I think that’s
everyone now keep your hand raised if
you’ve ever ordered a happy meal just so
you can get the toy yeah that’s a lot so
I think you guys were relate to this
story so um so when I was younger I let
used to live in Brooklyn in New York
City and my parents were always busy
working so my grandmother would always
take me around the city and two stores
to libraries to many different places
but the one thing we always the one
place we always went to every single
week was mcdonalds always have to go
there and at mcdonalds i would always
order the same exact order the hamburger
happy meal every single time and I
really aussie I didn’t really cared
about the fact that my grandmother was
buying me the food all I really care
about was the toy I had so much fun
playing with a toy and that’s all I
cared about and look forward to and so I
didn’t realize how wasteful this habit
was until much later my family is
originally from the Philippines and we
go there once here and the Philippines
as you can send a map is an island
country in Southeast Asia and one of our
family vacations we went to the
Philippines and we went to a fast food
chain restaurant called jollibee it’s
very similar to McDonald’s and so my
family walked out of jollibee and we saw
this kid in the parking lot this young
poor kid he was about this tall and he
was about the same age I was when I was
living New York see and he was just
going like this to us too many other
people as well he was asking for money
and so my parents actually went back in
to jollibee born in my hamburger meal
and gave it to the boy and I was young
and I I was so surprised like why is
this kid so happy I was just thinking to
myself like there was no like there was
no toy or prize all it was was just a
burger and it made me realize later on
that the kid was really happy about he
viewed the burger as a prize not the toy
and it was something that he was truly
grateful for and so I encourage you to
be grateful as well there are so many
things in this world to be grateful for
and however on top of that I also
encourage you encourage you to go past
simply being grateful and you need the
move past simply being grateful in order
to help others and in my sophomore year
of high school that’s what I did so one
thing I was always grateful for was my
shoes I always had good shoes to run in
and being a high school cross country
runner and track runner I would always
be grateful to have the shoes of you I
would able I would be able to wear every
single day for practice and one thing I
noticed on my family trips to the
Philippines was that there were so many
people especially kids even your age
even younger actually that don’t have
these shoes or their shoes are very worn
out and in fact my grandfather he used
to used to walk miles and miles to
school every day on a dirt road with no
shoes on and you know it was really bad
for his feet so on my sophomore year of
high school I conducted a shoe drive and
a tower hill many students and teachers
donated hundreds and hundreds of pairs
of shoes and we sent them over to the
bow junga elementary school in the
Philippines and one summer I personally
went over there to the Philippines to
that school and I personally distributed
the shoes and they were so grateful for
it and these are the kids there they
were about your age as well and there
were hundreds and hundreds of pair of
shoes and if I had
is right here I could give you each like
two or three pairs of shoes that’s how
much we were able to collect and how
much the students and teachers that
Tower Hill were generous and this is
just another picture of me and the kids
and the teacher right there and this is
just one of their classrooms and their
classrooms they don’t even have like air
conditioning and it’s very very hot
there so they have to study while
they’re sweating so this is one of the
way i encourage you to move past simply
being grateful and to really be active
in the community i challenge you to take
the first step so first ask yourself
what are you grateful for every day
there are so many things to be grateful
for in this world and maybe you are
grateful for the your lunch that you get
to eat every day so take it again take
that and take it further so maybe you
can volunteer at a soup kitchen or
something or let’s say you are grateful
for the jacket that keeps you warm every
day if I were to take if I were to open
this door and the cold air would come in
and everybody would be freezing it’s
really cold outside especially in this
winter time it’s I was just outside and
it’s like 30 degrees outside and there
are people out there who don’t even have
clothes to wear even in this weather so
again take something like your jacket
take something you are grateful for and
really help someone else attain it so
you can um maybe donate one of your
jackets that you don’t use anymore or
let’s say you are grateful for your
education I mean here at Independence
it’s a great school so you’ve got to be
grateful right um you have great
education here and maybe you can
volunteer the tutor at tutor someone who
may not have the same educational
opportunities as you do or maybe you can
make it even more simple once you can
maybe have a lot of knowledge in a
certain subject you can help one of your
friends who may be struggling in that
subject and you maybe you may be saying
oh I’m not I’m just a physical
or I’m just a 6th grader but I’m telling
you right now you are not just anything
you are you you are your own person with
the great capability of doing
unimaginable greatness in this world and
nobody can ever ever stop you from doing
so nobody and I mean that and expressing
your own personal gratitude will help
you live a personal / will live a
happier and better life but it is once
you move past simply being grateful and
help others that the world becomes a
better place so I challenge you I really
do challenge you to take one of the
things you are grateful for in this
world and help someone else attain it
you
[Applause] [Music]