Well, hello my friends!
This is John O'Leary.
And what a joy it is to be with you on this gorgeous Wednesday morning.
Today I want to talk to you about standing up to bullies.
This will be a message that may be appropriate for your kids in grade school, middle school,
high school, or college might receive.
And I think it's one that each and every one of us at any age in life, regardless of the
opportunities or challenges before us today might also benefit from receiving.
When I was in high school, pretty normal life, but there was one guy- pretty big, tough,
mean, football player- who loved to make fun, of all things- ready for it?- my hands.
For those of you who don't know my story well, I'm 9 years old when I get burned on 100%
of my body, and one of the things that was taken from me were my fingers.
And this guy, junior year of high school, decides to make fun of my hands.
Not once, or twice, but day after day.
Then week after week.
Then month after month.
And no one does the right thing.
No one with love and compassion stands up and takes a stand.
And then one day, in history class junior year- Mr. Sutherland's class- the smallest
kid in our entire class stands up.
You never know who's going to be the one, do you?
The smallest kid stands, he walks back, he points down at the big tough bully, and then
he says these words (listen to them):
"Dude!
Dude!
SHUT UP!
You have no idea what this kid's been through.
Shut up!
Shut up!"
When the big dude, this big muscular football player, the popular guy, heard what the little
guy with very little muscle tone and very small network said, what do you think the
big guy did?
When I ask kids, when I speak to audiences made up of kids, they almost always say, "I
bet the big guy punches the little guy."
But my friends, what the big guy did is almost always what they do when they see examples
of real courage, real compassion, real grace, real love around them.
Almost always.
What the big guy did is he put his hands together on his desk, he put his head down, and he
never once said a negative word against me or anybody else in our junior year of high
school or anybody else for the remainder of our time in that school.
During these days that are full of some bullies around us in schools, in our work environments,
in our healthcare systems, in our communities, in our global marketplaces, what is so important
I think is not to shy away from it, it's not to bury our heads in the sand,
I think it's to actually have the audacity to stand up, to make a stand, to do the right
thing, to walk to the back of the classroom, to point down, and to speak truth:
"Dude!
Shut up!
Shut up!
You have no idea what that kid has been through.
Shut up!"
It takes courage, it takes understanding, it takes compassion to speak these words,
and yet my friend, I think it also sets free not only the person who decides to boldly
share them, but also the one lucky enough to hear them.
Let's make sure we say those words (maybe not verbatim, shut up!), but that we speak
them in tones that are loving, and full of compassion, and full of truth, full of ways
to wake people up so that they can understand they don't understand, they can't comprehend
what someone else has been through.
But they can choose today to seek, to place their feet in two shoes that are different
than their own, into lives, into skin tone, into racial and political and geopolitical
systems that are different than their own in order to wake up from their own perspective,
in order to take on the lens of someone else.
I think what we need is a coming together, and what better opportunity is there than
right now, TODAY, on this Wednesday morning.
So my friends, for this time and until next time,
Dude!
Dude!
Wake up!
This is your day.
Live Inspired.
For more infomation >> HSN | Home Clearance up to 60% Off 08.30.2017 - 02 AM - Duration: 1:00:00. 
For more infomation >> Katrina Survivors To Harvey Victims: "Never Give Up Hope" - Duration: 1:43. 
For more infomation >> Looking to adopt a desert tortoise? 75 up for adoption! - Duration: 1:31. 
For more infomation >> Push to speed up Lake Okeechobee dike repairs - Duration: 2:51. 
For more infomation >> The Upstate steps up to help hurricane victims - Duration: 3:43. 
For more infomation >> Families open up about harrowing flood evacuations in La Grange - Duration: 3:10. 
For more infomation >> HSN | Home Clearance up to 50% Off 08.30.2017 - 08 AM - Duration: 1:00:01. 
For more infomation >> 'Entitled' San Ysidro thief backs up car, grabs packages - Duration: 1:46. 
For more infomation >> CBS4 Teams Up With American Red Cross To Help Hurricane, Flood Victims - Duration: 1:00. 
For more infomation >> Hoax social media accounts pop up after Powerball jackpot - Duration: 1:46. 
For more infomation >> City Council supports getting American Indian Cultural Center & Museum up and running - Duration: 1:45. 
For more infomation >> Travis Air Force medics gear up to help Harvey victims - Duration: 1:20. 
For more infomation >> Get up with Get Fit Sports Performance & Boot Camp's shout out - Duration: 0:30. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét