I was in second grade seven years old
and I just returned from my best
friend’s house which was one of my
favorite things to do but this day I was
upset when my mom asked me what’s going
on
I said Jody called me a Mexican now I
didn’t know what a Mexican was but I
could tell by the way Jody said it it
couldn’t be good my mom had to gently
break the news to me that yes I indeed
was a Mexican now I knew there were
differences of course I was dark hair
and dark skin and most of my friends
were blond and blue-eyed and and my
parents spoke Spanish another language
that their parents didn’t speak so I of
course I knew there were differences but
this was the first time that difference
seemed to equal bad and that was my
moment the moment that would forever
change how potentially I saw others
perceiving me and even how I perceived
others what was your moment I work with
people all the time and what I find is
that typically we’re trying to solve
others right they’re insensitive they’re
the ones that need more training they
should do it differently and maybe some
of that is actually true but for me
unless I solve Who I am then I’m gonna
have difficulty trying to help others
around me trying to help them make a
difference I can’t focus on them I need
to focus on me so what do I focus on
what are my biases how do I interact
with people differently because of how I
think of things what are my insecurities
and the words that I hear all of those
words
how do they feed into my insecurities
and what do I allow them to do for me
what are the ways that I think are my
gaps of learning so perhaps it’s what I
don’t know and maybe I need to be
informed on things what are the
stereotypes that I put on people just
because maybe I’ve been exposed to one
person that has certain things and go to
another person all those things define
my self-awareness and unless I deal with
myself first it
gonna be hard for me to help those
around me I was really fortunate even at
that young age I had a mom who sat me
down and who talked to me about how I
would react to things that would come my
way like this what she knew that I
didn’t is that was one of many moments
to come I would have a lifetime of
moments a lifetime where things were
said or done to me or told about me that
I would have to learn how to deal with
it’s pretty incredible about that too
because this was a woman who was
extremely poor growing up she was a
field laborer in a community that didn’t
accept that she was shunned and faced
prejudice that I will never ever have to
experience and for her to say you have a
choice how you’re gonna respond here she
had every right in her life to be able
to respond differently and she taught me
I could choose so I do choose I choose
not to react to uninformed comments
instead I choose to educate people tell
them the truth give them the facts let
them see what that is and why those
comments perhaps are uninformed I choose
to believe the best in people
best of intent maybe the words don’t
feel that way maybe the actions don’t
feel the way but I’m gonna start by
believing that they are the best and
that we can come together in some type
of unity I choose to believe that the
world can be a better place kind of hard
to do now isn’t it when you hear all the
things around us but I choose to believe
if we come together that we really can
make a difference
my daughter’s a sophomore in college
this year and before her freshman year I
took her and a friend out to eat and we
talked about a lot of things what she
had ahead of her the people she was
going to meet the experience that she
was going to have all the things that
were gonna frame what she was gonna be
in college which is such an incredible
time in someone’s life
and at the end of the meal I told them
ladies I have one request for you go out
and make this world a better place
couple of months ago she called me and
she said mom
I decided to start giving I found an
organization that I really like and I’m
just gonna give a monthly amount now the
truth is that money is coming from my
account but I don’t care because she
found a way to make a difference and
that’s all I asked of her so what do you
choose we can choose to be angry we can
choose to be frustrated there’s a lot to
make us frustrated right now we can
choose to shy away and say I don’t want
to get involved in all of that
there’s things coming at us all the time
we have to choose so we could choose to
do all of those things we could choose
to say that different is bad or we can
choose to say different is just
different in fact we’re more alike than
anything else I say we choose to make
this world a better place
let’s choose wisely our future really
does depend on it thank you
[Applause]
and I just returned from my best
friend’s house which was one of my
favorite things to do but this day I was
upset when my mom asked me what’s going
on
I said Jody called me a Mexican now I
didn’t know what a Mexican was but I
could tell by the way Jody said it it
couldn’t be good my mom had to gently
break the news to me that yes I indeed
was a Mexican now I knew there were
differences of course I was dark hair
and dark skin and most of my friends
were blond and blue-eyed and and my
parents spoke Spanish another language
that their parents didn’t speak so I of
course I knew there were differences but
this was the first time that difference
seemed to equal bad and that was my
moment the moment that would forever
change how potentially I saw others
perceiving me and even how I perceived
others what was your moment I work with
people all the time and what I find is
that typically we’re trying to solve
others right they’re insensitive they’re
the ones that need more training they
should do it differently and maybe some
of that is actually true but for me
unless I solve Who I am then I’m gonna
have difficulty trying to help others
around me trying to help them make a
difference I can’t focus on them I need
to focus on me so what do I focus on
what are my biases how do I interact
with people differently because of how I
think of things what are my insecurities
and the words that I hear all of those
words
how do they feed into my insecurities
and what do I allow them to do for me
what are the ways that I think are my
gaps of learning so perhaps it’s what I
don’t know and maybe I need to be
informed on things what are the
stereotypes that I put on people just
because maybe I’ve been exposed to one
person that has certain things and go to
another person all those things define
my self-awareness and unless I deal with
myself first it
gonna be hard for me to help those
around me I was really fortunate even at
that young age I had a mom who sat me
down and who talked to me about how I
would react to things that would come my
way like this what she knew that I
didn’t is that was one of many moments
to come I would have a lifetime of
moments a lifetime where things were
said or done to me or told about me that
I would have to learn how to deal with
it’s pretty incredible about that too
because this was a woman who was
extremely poor growing up she was a
field laborer in a community that didn’t
accept that she was shunned and faced
prejudice that I will never ever have to
experience and for her to say you have a
choice how you’re gonna respond here she
had every right in her life to be able
to respond differently and she taught me
I could choose so I do choose I choose
not to react to uninformed comments
instead I choose to educate people tell
them the truth give them the facts let
them see what that is and why those
comments perhaps are uninformed I choose
to believe the best in people
best of intent maybe the words don’t
feel that way maybe the actions don’t
feel the way but I’m gonna start by
believing that they are the best and
that we can come together in some type
of unity I choose to believe that the
world can be a better place kind of hard
to do now isn’t it when you hear all the
things around us but I choose to believe
if we come together that we really can
make a difference
my daughter’s a sophomore in college
this year and before her freshman year I
took her and a friend out to eat and we
talked about a lot of things what she
had ahead of her the people she was
going to meet the experience that she
was going to have all the things that
were gonna frame what she was gonna be
in college which is such an incredible
time in someone’s life
and at the end of the meal I told them
ladies I have one request for you go out
and make this world a better place
couple of months ago she called me and
she said mom
I decided to start giving I found an
organization that I really like and I’m
just gonna give a monthly amount now the
truth is that money is coming from my
account but I don’t care because she
found a way to make a difference and
that’s all I asked of her so what do you
choose we can choose to be angry we can
choose to be frustrated there’s a lot to
make us frustrated right now we can
choose to shy away and say I don’t want
to get involved in all of that
there’s things coming at us all the time
we have to choose so we could choose to
do all of those things we could choose
to say that different is bad or we can
choose to say different is just
different in fact we’re more alike than
anything else I say we choose to make
this world a better place
let’s choose wisely our future really
does depend on it thank you
[Applause]
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