Windsor Ontario Canada for any of us
that live here know that we belong to
two distinct groups to the outside world
the first group the people that have no
idea no idea that we exist and I’m not
talking people who live on distant
countries or faraway continents no I’m
talking about some people who live in
Canada and the United States and have no
idea that a place like Windsor exists
I’m sure we’ve all heard it
Windsor don’t you mean North Detroit
even though we’re geographically more
southern than Detroit or Windsor I
thought the province of Ontario ended at
London or Toronto believe it or not I
met somebody who belonged to this group
and I didn’t have to travel far I went
to Edmonton Alberta Canada it happened
last summer so I went to Edmonton and I
began chit-chatting with a young man who
worked out the hotel that I was staying
at he asked where you’re where are you
from to which I replied Windsor now at
this point I didn’t think it was
important to further clarify that I was
from Ontario or Canada since I hadn’t
even left the nation yet he said Windsor
I love Windsor I’ve always wanted to go
there thinking he was just trying to be
polite I didn’t respond back and I just
nodded it I just nodded to him and then
he said and the conversation got weird
I’ll make sure there’s some extra tea
and biscuits in your room again
not trying to be rude I just nodded to
him and did not respond as he was giving
me my room key he said just one more
question how long have you lived in
England for I mean it can’t be that long
you don’t even have an accent
no no Windsor Ontario Canada he’s like
are you sure are you sure you’re not
from Windsor England you know home of
the Windsor Castle where the Queen lives
no I confirmed I’m from Windsor Ontario
Canada home of the shawarma castle the
second group of people are the ones that
do know that we exist
but always offer sympathy or pity every
time they hear where we’re from I’m sure
anybody who’s ever traveled outside of
Windsor has experienced what I like to
call the sympathy head-tilt
it goes like this they ask where are you
from your spawn Windsor Oh sympathy
head-tilt and then they reassure you you
know Toronto is only a four-hour drive
the Detroit border is right there it’s
no secret that Windsor is not always
perceived as this great place to live in
fact there are people who have lived
their entire lives here who have almost
nothing positive to say a better
community but is that okay doesn’t
really matter
argue yes and most importantly I would
argue that these perceptions and
attitudes can change and that we can
lead ourselves towards a successful
society now this phenomenon of not being
proud of your community is not specific
just the Windsor no no there are people
scattered all across the globe
who belong to different cities towns who
are not so proud of their communities
and have more negative than positive to
say now before I continue I have to make
a very important point there’s no such
thing as the perfect community there’s
no area of the world that is absent of
all shortcomings but despite this I
think Windsor is a great place to live
there is no place I would rather live
than Windsor Ontario Canada and despite
our problems I have nothing but pride
and hope pride that we are doing some
things very very well in hope that we’re
taking certain initiatives and we are
leading the leading the right direction
to success so what do we do about a
community that’s plagued with negativity
what can we do about community members
who are pessimistic and can we transform
the lack of pride into optimism and hope
and more specifically what can we do as
individuals do we really have the
capacity to spread and maintain positive
change
these are some very difficult questions
and I don’t think there’s one answer
that can cure all the problems of every
community everywhere but I would argue
that there’s universal concepts I do I
would argue that there are things that
everybody can do in every community to
make it and to make it on the right path
of success I like to call these the
three P’s the three P’s of a
successful community and I maintain and
I am confident that anybody in any kit
in any community if they do these things
they’ll be on the right track for
success
so the first P be proud now this might
be this might seem like an odd concept
to start off with since we’re talking
about communities that lack pride and
where there’s an often perception of
more negativity and positivity but what
I’m not but what I’m not saying here is
that these we should force our community
members to be proud of their community
as a whole instead what I’m saying is we
should transform our perception to find
little things that we can be proud of in
our community there’s no area in the
world no community that has no good no
good in it
there is good everywhere we just have to
change our lens we have to change our
perception it is our job to go out there
zoom in and focus on the things that our
communities do well for example I’m
really proud of Windsor’s multicultural
and diverse populations I’m also proud
of our college and universities
directions in academia research and
athletics I’m also proud of the medical
breakthrough that Windsors been a part
of be it ophthalmology and LASIK surgery
or groundbreaking cancer research now
the trick here is not to overthink what
you should be proud of instead I would
argue go take a walk see what puts a
smile on your face naturally what brings
warmth to your heart and do not be
alarmed if it’s something that’s right
under your nose perhaps it’s the
interactions you have with your neighbor
or maybe it’s the beautiful scenery
that’s in your community it could be
anything so I urge each and every one of
you take a walk in your community change
your perception you’ll notice how much
we take for granted and this is
especially important because when it
comes with pride you’re changing your
purpose or your perception of a problem
you’re looking at a problem and you’re
seeing even though there’s bad there’s
also good every problem is an
opportunity for future success future
collaboration another important concept
of pride is that it builds upon itself
one day you find yourself proud of this
little thing and then this little thing
and then eventually you have this big
bank full of proud things that your
community does
this urges you and motivates you to
transform more goodness so that there be
more things that you can be proud of the
second P or the second concept is to be
present when we look at communities that
are perceived as negative or
unsuccessful we usually see two groups
of people the first group are those that
announce everything that is wrong this
is wrong this is wrong yet when these
people are challenged with becoming part
of the solution
they deflate and they always say what’s
the point of changing anything it’s
always going to stay the same the second
group of people are the ones who
consistently roll up their sleeves and
become part of the solution we should
strive to be like the second group of
people each of us here have a role and
responsibility to contribute to the
success that is our community each of us
have unique traits unique skillsets that
can contribute to the masterpiece that
is our community and when it comes to
presence I don’t mean just financially
mentally spiritually I mean dedicating
and investing ourselves completely
another element of presence is engaging
and dialogue in discussions with groups
of people that perhaps you don’t have a
lot of face time with if you know that
there are a different age group
different ethnicities and different
religions engage with them see how they
perceive your community what unique
experiences are they going through and
they too have unique skill sets and
unique traits that can contribute to the
success of your community you know we
talk about community so much and what is
a community what does it mean to belong
to a community you know that’s a whole
other talk in itself but I will say this
the word community comes from the Latin
word community Pass which means shared
in common and through common presence
and through collaboration we can
overcome their shortcomings in the
problems of our society and arrived at
the destination of success where we can
share it in common the third and final P
is to be positive I left this one to be
the last one because I would deem it the
most important because your attitude is
the most important element in any action
that you perform and this is especially
important when it comes to
involvement and enhancement because
sometimes progress takes a long time
sometimes outside forces deflate your
balloon of success but despite this you
should always remain positive it’s kind
of like when I was talking about pride
you have to change your perception you
have to change the way you look at
things you have to remember every
shortcoming is an opportunity for
collaboration and future success it’s
like they say the only thing more
contagious than measles is a positive
attitude
so infect your friends infect your
family members get as much people as
possible to be have a positive attitude
because if you have a positive attitude
50% of any problem you’re dealing with
is eliminated and the great thing about
having a positive attitude is it’s free
it doesn’t have an age requirement you
don’t have to belong to a certain group
of people instead it’s just something
that you feel and becomes contagious
anytime I talk about pride or being
proud of your community I remember the
trip that I took to Peru a couple years
back in my second year of University so
myself and 19 other University of
Windsor students traveled to Latin
America to assist in the building of an
elementary school and we came to a
community that didn’t have much when it
comes when it came to material goods yet
they had a strong sense of community
they had hope and positivity and they
knew that their community was going to
do better but what was also unique is
that each embraced the unique role and
responsibility that they had in terms of
their track of of community success and
they embraced their role and
responsibility with eagerness with
optimism and with a sense of
responsibility when whenever we talk
about Windsor or we talk about any
community that’s facing difficulties
where people say there’s more negative
than positive I’m reminded by a story
that I read online a little while ago
it’s the story of the dog in the well so
one day a farmer’s dog fell in a deep
well after crying and crying the farmer
finally came to the well and he saw that
his dog was stuck deep deep deep in the
well so he waited awhile while he was
trying to figure out how he can get him
out and then we
the animal was too old there was no
point in retrieving him and that he
should just cover up the well so he
gathered his farmer friends to a system
in the covering of this well so the
farmers came and each grabbed a shovel
picked up some dirt and threw it into
the well as soon as the dog realized
what was going on he started to weep he
started to cry
then after many loads of dirt the dog
went silent he became quiet as they
poured more and more dirt the farmer
finally real not realized that he could
not hear his dog anymore so he decided
to take a peek in and what he saw was
amazing the dog with every load that
would hit him would shake it off his
back and take a step up as more and more
loads fell onto the dog and into the
well the dog would shake off the load of
dirt and step up and before we knew it
the dog was able to step over the edge
of the well and run away happily what is
the point of the story the point is life
is going to throw dirt on us it’s gonna
throw it dirt on us individually and as
our community but what can we do to
overcome it we must shake off the dirt
we must overcome our deepest wells by
shaking all the dirt off and never
stopping because if we stop we let the
dirt accumulate and then we become stuck
and together we can overcome any
limitation any shortcoming and anything
that life might throw at us you know
earlier in my speech I announce that I
do think it’s very important to have
pride and be proud of your community and
I did say that if you’re if your
community is in process of becoming
better that you should be a part of that
process you should contribute in any way
that you can the reason why I think it’s
so important is because I believe that
belonging to a community is a natural
phenomenon just like we seek water we
seek food and mystique air we seek to
belong to a community and just as we
strive for good air good water and good
food we seek to belong to a good and
successful community and as we enrich
each of our respective
communities what we do is we enhance the
global community the most important
community the one each and every one of
us belong to the community of humanity
ladies and gentlemen each of us our
strokes of a brush to the masterpiece
that is our community the community that
is my masterpiece is Windsor Ontario
Canada and I’m consistently trying my
best to make it better
what’s your masterpiece look like and
what are you doing to make it better
thank you very much
[Applause]
that live here know that we belong to
two distinct groups to the outside world
the first group the people that have no
idea no idea that we exist and I’m not
talking people who live on distant
countries or faraway continents no I’m
talking about some people who live in
Canada and the United States and have no
idea that a place like Windsor exists
I’m sure we’ve all heard it
Windsor don’t you mean North Detroit
even though we’re geographically more
southern than Detroit or Windsor I
thought the province of Ontario ended at
London or Toronto believe it or not I
met somebody who belonged to this group
and I didn’t have to travel far I went
to Edmonton Alberta Canada it happened
last summer so I went to Edmonton and I
began chit-chatting with a young man who
worked out the hotel that I was staying
at he asked where you’re where are you
from to which I replied Windsor now at
this point I didn’t think it was
important to further clarify that I was
from Ontario or Canada since I hadn’t
even left the nation yet he said Windsor
I love Windsor I’ve always wanted to go
there thinking he was just trying to be
polite I didn’t respond back and I just
nodded it I just nodded to him and then
he said and the conversation got weird
I’ll make sure there’s some extra tea
and biscuits in your room again
not trying to be rude I just nodded to
him and did not respond as he was giving
me my room key he said just one more
question how long have you lived in
England for I mean it can’t be that long
you don’t even have an accent
no no Windsor Ontario Canada he’s like
are you sure are you sure you’re not
from Windsor England you know home of
the Windsor Castle where the Queen lives
no I confirmed I’m from Windsor Ontario
Canada home of the shawarma castle the
second group of people are the ones that
do know that we exist
but always offer sympathy or pity every
time they hear where we’re from I’m sure
anybody who’s ever traveled outside of
Windsor has experienced what I like to
call the sympathy head-tilt
it goes like this they ask where are you
from your spawn Windsor Oh sympathy
head-tilt and then they reassure you you
know Toronto is only a four-hour drive
the Detroit border is right there it’s
no secret that Windsor is not always
perceived as this great place to live in
fact there are people who have lived
their entire lives here who have almost
nothing positive to say a better
community but is that okay doesn’t
really matter
argue yes and most importantly I would
argue that these perceptions and
attitudes can change and that we can
lead ourselves towards a successful
society now this phenomenon of not being
proud of your community is not specific
just the Windsor no no there are people
scattered all across the globe
who belong to different cities towns who
are not so proud of their communities
and have more negative than positive to
say now before I continue I have to make
a very important point there’s no such
thing as the perfect community there’s
no area of the world that is absent of
all shortcomings but despite this I
think Windsor is a great place to live
there is no place I would rather live
than Windsor Ontario Canada and despite
our problems I have nothing but pride
and hope pride that we are doing some
things very very well in hope that we’re
taking certain initiatives and we are
leading the leading the right direction
to success so what do we do about a
community that’s plagued with negativity
what can we do about community members
who are pessimistic and can we transform
the lack of pride into optimism and hope
and more specifically what can we do as
individuals do we really have the
capacity to spread and maintain positive
change
these are some very difficult questions
and I don’t think there’s one answer
that can cure all the problems of every
community everywhere but I would argue
that there’s universal concepts I do I
would argue that there are things that
everybody can do in every community to
make it and to make it on the right path
of success I like to call these the
three P’s the three P’s of a
successful community and I maintain and
I am confident that anybody in any kit
in any community if they do these things
they’ll be on the right track for
success
so the first P be proud now this might
be this might seem like an odd concept
to start off with since we’re talking
about communities that lack pride and
where there’s an often perception of
more negativity and positivity but what
I’m not but what I’m not saying here is
that these we should force our community
members to be proud of their community
as a whole instead what I’m saying is we
should transform our perception to find
little things that we can be proud of in
our community there’s no area in the
world no community that has no good no
good in it
there is good everywhere we just have to
change our lens we have to change our
perception it is our job to go out there
zoom in and focus on the things that our
communities do well for example I’m
really proud of Windsor’s multicultural
and diverse populations I’m also proud
of our college and universities
directions in academia research and
athletics I’m also proud of the medical
breakthrough that Windsors been a part
of be it ophthalmology and LASIK surgery
or groundbreaking cancer research now
the trick here is not to overthink what
you should be proud of instead I would
argue go take a walk see what puts a
smile on your face naturally what brings
warmth to your heart and do not be
alarmed if it’s something that’s right
under your nose perhaps it’s the
interactions you have with your neighbor
or maybe it’s the beautiful scenery
that’s in your community it could be
anything so I urge each and every one of
you take a walk in your community change
your perception you’ll notice how much
we take for granted and this is
especially important because when it
comes with pride you’re changing your
purpose or your perception of a problem
you’re looking at a problem and you’re
seeing even though there’s bad there’s
also good every problem is an
opportunity for future success future
collaboration another important concept
of pride is that it builds upon itself
one day you find yourself proud of this
little thing and then this little thing
and then eventually you have this big
bank full of proud things that your
community does
this urges you and motivates you to
transform more goodness so that there be
more things that you can be proud of the
second P or the second concept is to be
present when we look at communities that
are perceived as negative or
unsuccessful we usually see two groups
of people the first group are those that
announce everything that is wrong this
is wrong this is wrong yet when these
people are challenged with becoming part
of the solution
they deflate and they always say what’s
the point of changing anything it’s
always going to stay the same the second
group of people are the ones who
consistently roll up their sleeves and
become part of the solution we should
strive to be like the second group of
people each of us here have a role and
responsibility to contribute to the
success that is our community each of us
have unique traits unique skillsets that
can contribute to the masterpiece that
is our community and when it comes to
presence I don’t mean just financially
mentally spiritually I mean dedicating
and investing ourselves completely
another element of presence is engaging
and dialogue in discussions with groups
of people that perhaps you don’t have a
lot of face time with if you know that
there are a different age group
different ethnicities and different
religions engage with them see how they
perceive your community what unique
experiences are they going through and
they too have unique skill sets and
unique traits that can contribute to the
success of your community you know we
talk about community so much and what is
a community what does it mean to belong
to a community you know that’s a whole
other talk in itself but I will say this
the word community comes from the Latin
word community Pass which means shared
in common and through common presence
and through collaboration we can
overcome their shortcomings in the
problems of our society and arrived at
the destination of success where we can
share it in common the third and final P
is to be positive I left this one to be
the last one because I would deem it the
most important because your attitude is
the most important element in any action
that you perform and this is especially
important when it comes to
involvement and enhancement because
sometimes progress takes a long time
sometimes outside forces deflate your
balloon of success but despite this you
should always remain positive it’s kind
of like when I was talking about pride
you have to change your perception you
have to change the way you look at
things you have to remember every
shortcoming is an opportunity for
collaboration and future success it’s
like they say the only thing more
contagious than measles is a positive
attitude
so infect your friends infect your
family members get as much people as
possible to be have a positive attitude
because if you have a positive attitude
50% of any problem you’re dealing with
is eliminated and the great thing about
having a positive attitude is it’s free
it doesn’t have an age requirement you
don’t have to belong to a certain group
of people instead it’s just something
that you feel and becomes contagious
anytime I talk about pride or being
proud of your community I remember the
trip that I took to Peru a couple years
back in my second year of University so
myself and 19 other University of
Windsor students traveled to Latin
America to assist in the building of an
elementary school and we came to a
community that didn’t have much when it
comes when it came to material goods yet
they had a strong sense of community
they had hope and positivity and they
knew that their community was going to
do better but what was also unique is
that each embraced the unique role and
responsibility that they had in terms of
their track of of community success and
they embraced their role and
responsibility with eagerness with
optimism and with a sense of
responsibility when whenever we talk
about Windsor or we talk about any
community that’s facing difficulties
where people say there’s more negative
than positive I’m reminded by a story
that I read online a little while ago
it’s the story of the dog in the well so
one day a farmer’s dog fell in a deep
well after crying and crying the farmer
finally came to the well and he saw that
his dog was stuck deep deep deep in the
well so he waited awhile while he was
trying to figure out how he can get him
out and then we
the animal was too old there was no
point in retrieving him and that he
should just cover up the well so he
gathered his farmer friends to a system
in the covering of this well so the
farmers came and each grabbed a shovel
picked up some dirt and threw it into
the well as soon as the dog realized
what was going on he started to weep he
started to cry
then after many loads of dirt the dog
went silent he became quiet as they
poured more and more dirt the farmer
finally real not realized that he could
not hear his dog anymore so he decided
to take a peek in and what he saw was
amazing the dog with every load that
would hit him would shake it off his
back and take a step up as more and more
loads fell onto the dog and into the
well the dog would shake off the load of
dirt and step up and before we knew it
the dog was able to step over the edge
of the well and run away happily what is
the point of the story the point is life
is going to throw dirt on us it’s gonna
throw it dirt on us individually and as
our community but what can we do to
overcome it we must shake off the dirt
we must overcome our deepest wells by
shaking all the dirt off and never
stopping because if we stop we let the
dirt accumulate and then we become stuck
and together we can overcome any
limitation any shortcoming and anything
that life might throw at us you know
earlier in my speech I announce that I
do think it’s very important to have
pride and be proud of your community and
I did say that if you’re if your
community is in process of becoming
better that you should be a part of that
process you should contribute in any way
that you can the reason why I think it’s
so important is because I believe that
belonging to a community is a natural
phenomenon just like we seek water we
seek food and mystique air we seek to
belong to a community and just as we
strive for good air good water and good
food we seek to belong to a good and
successful community and as we enrich
each of our respective
communities what we do is we enhance the
global community the most important
community the one each and every one of
us belong to the community of humanity
ladies and gentlemen each of us our
strokes of a brush to the masterpiece
that is our community the community that
is my masterpiece is Windsor Ontario
Canada and I’m consistently trying my
best to make it better
what’s your masterpiece look like and
what are you doing to make it better
thank you very much
[Applause]
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