[Music]
it was two weeks before the state
football playoff game anticipation was
pulsing throughout my body
I’d been building up to this moment
since my sophomore year and as a senior
starter on both offense and defense
there’s a lot of pressure upon me upon
my team to win for our community and for
our school this is me number four up
there but even with that pressure I was
having a great senior year filled with
school activities friends and sports I
felt like I was on top of the world with
my future shining brightly before me I
felt invincible immortal a teenage boy
waiting for the world with the world
they’re ready to conquer but then in
almost an instance the world as I knew
it came crashing down at the height of
my perceived invincibility my girlfriend
Jeanette this is a picture of her I in
high school
pulled me off to the side between
classes whispered to me that she might
be pregnant that moment is forever
etched into my memory it’s just like in
the movies when everything freezes and
that camera focuses right in on the shot
subject space I was that subject with
that shocked face my world suddenly
became very small after recovering from
what felt like a wrecking ball slamming
into me I chose denial I don’t have time
for this I had a big game coming up as a
17 year old pretty immature boy I didn’t
have time for the consequences of my
choices
but guess what those consequences came
anyway we are all gonna have to deal
with consequences within our lives
consequences from our own choices
consequences from choices of others and
consequences from the circumstances of
life that we have no control over my
question today to you is how can we take
those cons out of consequences and
replace them with pros pro sequences Pro
sequence is kind of a hard word to say
I’m sure you’re all gonna go home and
say it a few times tonight that’s
probably why it’s not part of our
vocabulary but it really should be when
we use the word consequence geez Lee
used in a negative negative way for
example the outcomes of that situation
has consequences why can’t we flip that
and say the outcome of that situation
has Prosek wences let’s change our
thinking from consequences to Prosek
wences cons to pros negatives to
positives that’s exactly what those two
17-year olds had to learn how to do this
was a scandal of epic proportions in
this small Utah town we were good kids
Jeannette a talented basketball player
with aspirations to play college
basketball me the student body vice
president with goals to serve a mission
for my church soon after graduation we
had to learn to take those consequences
that were coming at us pretty hard and
switch tools into pro sequences we had
some tough decisions and choices coming
our way first of all we could get
married and give up those dreams and
aspirations that we had or second we
could put the child up for adoption
temporarily delaying those dreams but
not being able to raise our own child
some two tough decisions with them
pretty tough consequences what we
decided to get married we decided that
we were gonna raise this
we decided that we were gonna be a part
of her life she became our new dream she
became the ultimate pro sequence now it
wasn’t easy I can’t even begin to
describe the hardships and challenges
that we faced think about it think of
the 17 year olds that you know or think
about yourself when you were 17 I look
back and think of that it boils my mind
the responsibilities that were thrust
upon us all the statistics stacked
against us
teenage pregnancy teenage marriage to
teenagers the new baby on their way no
money and all our dreams redirected we
had to change those consequences into
pro sequences so how did we do that
well first of all we had to figure out
what our options were the consequences
were coming now those options were
limited but they were there so we we did
that we talked about those options that
we had
second of all we had to learn to let go
of the things that were out of our
control that is so easy to say and very
difficult to do we had to let go of
those dreams and aspirations but not
only we had for ourselves that our
parents had for us we had to let go of
relationships that we couldn’t have
anymore
but once we able to do these things and
with the help of others we were able to
set up a new plan we had a vision in
mind of what we could become so we set
that path towards that vision and then
most importantly as we headed down that
path we had to learn to adapt but yes
stay focused guess what as you go down
that path more choices and more
consequences are going to come you have
to do this process over adapt adjust but
yet stay focused on what you want to
become I got very lucky
I couldn’t have partnered with somebody
more perfect for me and Jeanette and I
have been married for almost thirty
years thirty years this year we have
five incredible kids – awesome
in-laws that have joined to this crazy
family and as of two weeks ago four
beautiful granddaughters this is the
ultimate pro secuence from some very
poor decisions and consequences thirty
years ago now don’t get me wrong
this hasn’t been a perfect marriage or a
perfect family life by any means and my
wife and my kids would be the first to
come up and tell you that we haven’t
always made great choices are good
choices for that matter but guess what
throughout the years we’ve learned to
refine this process of taking the cons
out of consequences and replace them
with pros in fact it’s become less of a
process and a more of an attitude or a
way of life taking those cons of
Bingaman to pros what a great way to
live life you could do that within your
relationships you can do that at work
and everything that you come in contact
with because you’re gonna have
consequences that come your way look for
the probes in those consequences in fact
just a few years down the road we had
another big choice coming our way that
had some consequences it was the choice
of uprooting our family moving them
across country and continue our
education and going to dental school
I’ve some of you might say what’s the
big deal with that that’s the look a
great choice what consequences come with
that with her a lot of consequences in
fact there was a very large financial
consequence leaving a well-paying job
that was consistent and going hundreds
of thousand dollars into debt but
Jeanette and I decided through this
process that we were going to turn that
large financial consequence into a pro
secuence first of all we didn’t call it
going into debt we called it an
investment into our future
that was the Prosek whence an investment
into a
fashion that would allow us to
eventually become financially stable an
investment into a profession that would
allow us to actually serve others and
give back which is exactly what we did
as we not only served with in my
practice and with my employees or in the
community but also as we help form a
nonprofit organization where we helped
take those services around the world
which has been very rewarding for me and
my family and anybody that comes in
contact with me so be careful if you
talk to me about it I’m gonna recruit
you so what happens when the
consequences come at us from life
circumstances circumstances that are out
of our control
I first met auda gu 10 years ago in Dara
Ethiopia the nonprofit organization that
we’d helped found was focusing its
service in Araguz village auda gu was an
orphan unlike so many orphans in
Ethiopia he had been taken in by some
distant relatives he had to learn at a
very young age to work for everything
that he had as a ten-year-old boy auda
gu became our protector our translator
and our tour guide in fact on our first
visit to Dara he took us not only on a
tour of the village to the market where
he protected us from the challenges in
an actual market this was not a market
where white people were usually rat and
he took us on a tour to his home his
living quarters and even showed us his
room which as you can see was more of a
closet or a shed separate from the main
living quarters he wore the same clothes
the entire week which included a pair of
broken-down flip-flops
his hands were callused because of the
work that he had to do we could tell
that the relatives that took our Tague
in loved him but they could barely
provide for the needs of their own
alone the needs of somebody else
Jeanette and I were heartbroken for odd
ago and the circumstances that he was in
otto goo was always the first one to
meet us when we arrived in Dara this is
one of my favorite pictures of how to
goo and me I think he’s about as tall as
me now if you remember back to that
first photo he was about this tall and
this is one this is a photo that I have
on my desk at work oughta go took
advantage of the opportunities that came
his way every time we came into the
village in fact we’re able to hire him
as a translator in our clinics in their
dental clinic in the eye clinic even
with his limited English speaking
abilities and even though he spoke
broken English he also spoke Amharic
which is the national language and he
spoke Aramaic which is more of the
regional language which is a very
valuable skill to have over time he
became a leader within our group
especially with the teenagers and as our
group grew in size and purpose and
traveled to other villages
Anagha took advantage of those
opportunities as well to learn to serve
and to grow as well in fact we even took
him to the capital Addis Ababa where he
had his first experience staying in a
hotel and his first experience encounter
with the shower and the water logged
bathroom was proof of that I wish I had
a picture of that Jeanette and I fell in
love with Otto gooo he was a pretty
special boy in fact we even looked at
ways into bringing him to America and
making him a permanent part of our
family but we soon came to realize that
the best thing for Otto gooo was not
pulling him away from his people and
from his culture but giving him
encouragement and support within his own
country where he could learn to be a
leader and a positive force and that’s
exactly what we did so how did our goo
take the consequences of his life
circumstances and flipped those in to
Prosek wences well first of all he had
to figure out what his options were as
well and because of those consequences
his options were pretty limited but they
were there and he had options
second of all with the help of others he
had to define a plan he had told us from
day one that he wanted to graduate from
high school which was a very hard thing
to do in his village and second to
attend the University in Addis Ababa
which was very rare for somebody from
his village to do so he set that plan up
with the networking of help that he
built over the years he stayed focused
on that plan and had to learn to adapt
in fact when he graduated from high
school a few years ago a couple years
ago he couldn’t directly go to the
University or go to school he had to
work and earn money and then he went to
the local kind of a type of Community
College School in a city near his
village this is Adi GU today healthy
happy taller than me good-looking boy
and attending the University in Addis
Ababa Auto GU did not let the
consequences of his life circumstances
define the path that he had to take just
like those two seventeen year olds 30
years ago did not let those harsh
consequences some from some pretty poor
choices define who they were gonna be or
the path that they were going to take
we all have consequences we’re going to
have consequences tonight from choices
we make tomorrow next week we’re gonna
have consequences from the choices of
others consequences are going to come to
us from the circumstances of life that
we have no control over don’t let those
consequences define who you are don’t
let those consequences guide you down
the path take those consequences and
flip those into pro sequences thank you [Applause]
it was two weeks before the state
football playoff game anticipation was
pulsing throughout my body
I’d been building up to this moment
since my sophomore year and as a senior
starter on both offense and defense
there’s a lot of pressure upon me upon
my team to win for our community and for
our school this is me number four up
there but even with that pressure I was
having a great senior year filled with
school activities friends and sports I
felt like I was on top of the world with
my future shining brightly before me I
felt invincible immortal a teenage boy
waiting for the world with the world
they’re ready to conquer but then in
almost an instance the world as I knew
it came crashing down at the height of
my perceived invincibility my girlfriend
Jeanette this is a picture of her I in
high school
pulled me off to the side between
classes whispered to me that she might
be pregnant that moment is forever
etched into my memory it’s just like in
the movies when everything freezes and
that camera focuses right in on the shot
subject space I was that subject with
that shocked face my world suddenly
became very small after recovering from
what felt like a wrecking ball slamming
into me I chose denial I don’t have time
for this I had a big game coming up as a
17 year old pretty immature boy I didn’t
have time for the consequences of my
choices
but guess what those consequences came
anyway we are all gonna have to deal
with consequences within our lives
consequences from our own choices
consequences from choices of others and
consequences from the circumstances of
life that we have no control over my
question today to you is how can we take
those cons out of consequences and
replace them with pros pro sequences Pro
sequence is kind of a hard word to say
I’m sure you’re all gonna go home and
say it a few times tonight that’s
probably why it’s not part of our
vocabulary but it really should be when
we use the word consequence geez Lee
used in a negative negative way for
example the outcomes of that situation
has consequences why can’t we flip that
and say the outcome of that situation
has Prosek wences let’s change our
thinking from consequences to Prosek
wences cons to pros negatives to
positives that’s exactly what those two
17-year olds had to learn how to do this
was a scandal of epic proportions in
this small Utah town we were good kids
Jeannette a talented basketball player
with aspirations to play college
basketball me the student body vice
president with goals to serve a mission
for my church soon after graduation we
had to learn to take those consequences
that were coming at us pretty hard and
switch tools into pro sequences we had
some tough decisions and choices coming
our way first of all we could get
married and give up those dreams and
aspirations that we had or second we
could put the child up for adoption
temporarily delaying those dreams but
not being able to raise our own child
some two tough decisions with them
pretty tough consequences what we
decided to get married we decided that
we were gonna raise this
we decided that we were gonna be a part
of her life she became our new dream she
became the ultimate pro sequence now it
wasn’t easy I can’t even begin to
describe the hardships and challenges
that we faced think about it think of
the 17 year olds that you know or think
about yourself when you were 17 I look
back and think of that it boils my mind
the responsibilities that were thrust
upon us all the statistics stacked
against us
teenage pregnancy teenage marriage to
teenagers the new baby on their way no
money and all our dreams redirected we
had to change those consequences into
pro sequences so how did we do that
well first of all we had to figure out
what our options were the consequences
were coming now those options were
limited but they were there so we we did
that we talked about those options that
we had
second of all we had to learn to let go
of the things that were out of our
control that is so easy to say and very
difficult to do we had to let go of
those dreams and aspirations but not
only we had for ourselves that our
parents had for us we had to let go of
relationships that we couldn’t have
anymore
but once we able to do these things and
with the help of others we were able to
set up a new plan we had a vision in
mind of what we could become so we set
that path towards that vision and then
most importantly as we headed down that
path we had to learn to adapt but yes
stay focused guess what as you go down
that path more choices and more
consequences are going to come you have
to do this process over adapt adjust but
yet stay focused on what you want to
become I got very lucky
I couldn’t have partnered with somebody
more perfect for me and Jeanette and I
have been married for almost thirty
years thirty years this year we have
five incredible kids – awesome
in-laws that have joined to this crazy
family and as of two weeks ago four
beautiful granddaughters this is the
ultimate pro secuence from some very
poor decisions and consequences thirty
years ago now don’t get me wrong
this hasn’t been a perfect marriage or a
perfect family life by any means and my
wife and my kids would be the first to
come up and tell you that we haven’t
always made great choices are good
choices for that matter but guess what
throughout the years we’ve learned to
refine this process of taking the cons
out of consequences and replace them
with pros in fact it’s become less of a
process and a more of an attitude or a
way of life taking those cons of
Bingaman to pros what a great way to
live life you could do that within your
relationships you can do that at work
and everything that you come in contact
with because you’re gonna have
consequences that come your way look for
the probes in those consequences in fact
just a few years down the road we had
another big choice coming our way that
had some consequences it was the choice
of uprooting our family moving them
across country and continue our
education and going to dental school
I’ve some of you might say what’s the
big deal with that that’s the look a
great choice what consequences come with
that with her a lot of consequences in
fact there was a very large financial
consequence leaving a well-paying job
that was consistent and going hundreds
of thousand dollars into debt but
Jeanette and I decided through this
process that we were going to turn that
large financial consequence into a pro
secuence first of all we didn’t call it
going into debt we called it an
investment into our future
that was the Prosek whence an investment
into a
fashion that would allow us to
eventually become financially stable an
investment into a profession that would
allow us to actually serve others and
give back which is exactly what we did
as we not only served with in my
practice and with my employees or in the
community but also as we help form a
nonprofit organization where we helped
take those services around the world
which has been very rewarding for me and
my family and anybody that comes in
contact with me so be careful if you
talk to me about it I’m gonna recruit
you so what happens when the
consequences come at us from life
circumstances circumstances that are out
of our control
I first met auda gu 10 years ago in Dara
Ethiopia the nonprofit organization that
we’d helped found was focusing its
service in Araguz village auda gu was an
orphan unlike so many orphans in
Ethiopia he had been taken in by some
distant relatives he had to learn at a
very young age to work for everything
that he had as a ten-year-old boy auda
gu became our protector our translator
and our tour guide in fact on our first
visit to Dara he took us not only on a
tour of the village to the market where
he protected us from the challenges in
an actual market this was not a market
where white people were usually rat and
he took us on a tour to his home his
living quarters and even showed us his
room which as you can see was more of a
closet or a shed separate from the main
living quarters he wore the same clothes
the entire week which included a pair of
broken-down flip-flops
his hands were callused because of the
work that he had to do we could tell
that the relatives that took our Tague
in loved him but they could barely
provide for the needs of their own
alone the needs of somebody else
Jeanette and I were heartbroken for odd
ago and the circumstances that he was in
otto goo was always the first one to
meet us when we arrived in Dara this is
one of my favorite pictures of how to
goo and me I think he’s about as tall as
me now if you remember back to that
first photo he was about this tall and
this is one this is a photo that I have
on my desk at work oughta go took
advantage of the opportunities that came
his way every time we came into the
village in fact we’re able to hire him
as a translator in our clinics in their
dental clinic in the eye clinic even
with his limited English speaking
abilities and even though he spoke
broken English he also spoke Amharic
which is the national language and he
spoke Aramaic which is more of the
regional language which is a very
valuable skill to have over time he
became a leader within our group
especially with the teenagers and as our
group grew in size and purpose and
traveled to other villages
Anagha took advantage of those
opportunities as well to learn to serve
and to grow as well in fact we even took
him to the capital Addis Ababa where he
had his first experience staying in a
hotel and his first experience encounter
with the shower and the water logged
bathroom was proof of that I wish I had
a picture of that Jeanette and I fell in
love with Otto gooo he was a pretty
special boy in fact we even looked at
ways into bringing him to America and
making him a permanent part of our
family but we soon came to realize that
the best thing for Otto gooo was not
pulling him away from his people and
from his culture but giving him
encouragement and support within his own
country where he could learn to be a
leader and a positive force and that’s
exactly what we did so how did our goo
take the consequences of his life
circumstances and flipped those in to
Prosek wences well first of all he had
to figure out what his options were as
well and because of those consequences
his options were pretty limited but they
were there and he had options
second of all with the help of others he
had to define a plan he had told us from
day one that he wanted to graduate from
high school which was a very hard thing
to do in his village and second to
attend the University in Addis Ababa
which was very rare for somebody from
his village to do so he set that plan up
with the networking of help that he
built over the years he stayed focused
on that plan and had to learn to adapt
in fact when he graduated from high
school a few years ago a couple years
ago he couldn’t directly go to the
University or go to school he had to
work and earn money and then he went to
the local kind of a type of Community
College School in a city near his
village this is Adi GU today healthy
happy taller than me good-looking boy
and attending the University in Addis
Ababa Auto GU did not let the
consequences of his life circumstances
define the path that he had to take just
like those two seventeen year olds 30
years ago did not let those harsh
consequences some from some pretty poor
choices define who they were gonna be or
the path that they were going to take
we all have consequences we’re going to
have consequences tonight from choices
we make tomorrow next week we’re gonna
have consequences from the choices of
others consequences are going to come to
us from the circumstances of life that
we have no control over don’t let those
consequences define who you are don’t
let those consequences guide you down
the path take those consequences and
flip those into pro sequences thank you [Applause]
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