the wisest person I ever met in my lifea third-grade dropouts why is this anddrop out in the same sentence as ratheroxymoronic like jumbo shrimp mm-hmm likefun runain't nothing fun about it likeMicrosoft Works y'all don't hear meI used to say like country music butI've lived in Texas so long I lovecountry music now I Beck yeah I hunt Ifinished I have cowboy boots and cowboyy'all I'm a black Nick redneck do youhear what I'm saying no longer areoxymoronic for me to say country musicand it's not oxymoronic for me to saythird grade and drop out that thirdgrade dropout the wisest person I evermet in my life who taught me to combineknowledge and wisdom to make an impactwas my father a simple cook why is thisman ever been in my lifejust a simple cook left school in thethird grade to help out on the familyfarm but just because he left schooldoesn't mean a Jessica education stopMark Twain once said I've never allowedmy schooling to get in the way of myeducation my father taught himself howto read taught himself how to writedecided in the midst of Jim Crow ISM asAmerica was breeding the last gasp ofthe Civil War my father decided he wasgoing to stand and be a man not a blackman not a brown man not a white man buta man he literally challenged himself tobe the best that he could all the daysof his life I have four degrees mybrother is a judgewe're not the smartest ones in ourfamily it's a third grade dropout daddya third grade dropout daddy who waspulling Michelangelo saying those boys Iwon't have a problem if you aim high andmiss but I'm gonna have a real issue ifyou aim low and hit a country motherquoting Henry Ford saying if you thinkyou can or if you think you can't you'reright I learned that from a third-gradedrop simple lessons lessons like theseson you'd rather be an hour early than aminute late we never knew what time itwas at my house cuz the clocks werealways ahead my mother said for nearly30 years my father left the house at3:45 in the morning one day she askedhim why daddy he said maybe one of myboys will catch me in the act ofexcellence I want to share two thingswith youAristotle said you are what yourepeatedly do therefore excellent taughtme I have it not an act don't everforget that I know you're tough butalways remember to be kind always don'tever forget that never embarrass mamamm-hmm yeah if mama ain't happy ain'tnobody happy if daddy ain't happy don'tnobody care but you know I'm tell younext lesson lesson from a cook overthere in the galley son make sure yourservants towel is bigger than your egoego is the anesthesia the deadens thepain of stupidityy'all might have a relative in mind youwant to send that to let me say it againego is the anesthesia to Denton's thepain of stupidity pride is the burden ofa foolish person John Wooden coachbasketball in UCLA for a living but hiscalling was the impact people and withall those national championships guesswhat he was found doing in the middle ofthe week going into the cupboardgrabbing a broom and sweeping his owngym flooryou want to make an impact find yourbroom every day of your life you findyour broom you grow your influence stepway that way you're attracting people sothat you can impact them final lessonson[Music]you're gonna do a job do it right I'vealways been toldhow average I can be always beencriticized about being average but Iwant to tell you something I stand herebefore you before all of these peoplenot listening to those words but tellingmyself every single day has shoot forthe stars to be the best that I can begood enough isn't good enough if it canbe better and better isn't good enoughif it can be best let me close with avery personal story that I think willbring all this into focus wisdom willcome to you in the unlikeliest ofsources a lot of times through failurewhen you hit rock bottom remember thiswhile you're struggling rock bottomcan also be a great foundation on whichto build and on which to grow I'm notworried that you'll be successful I'mworried that you won't fail from time totime person that gets up off the canvasand keeps growing that's the person thatwill continue to grow their influenceback in the 70s to help me make thispoint let me introduce you to someoneI'm at the finest woman I've ever met inmy life mmm-hmm back in my day we had acall there a brick housethis woman was the finest woman I'd everseen in my life there's just one littleproblem back then ladies didn't like bigold linemen The Blind Side hadn't comeout yet they liked quarterbacks andrunning backs breathless dance and Ifind out her name is Trina Williams fromLompoc California and and we were alldancing and we're just just excited andI decide in the middle of dancing withher that I would ask her for a phonenumbershe Katrina was the first one Trina wasthe only woman in college who gave meher real telephone number the next daywe walked to Baskin and Robbins icecream parlor my friends couldn't believeit this has been 40 years ago and myfriend still can't believe it we go on asecond date and a third date and afourth date mm-hmm we drive from Chicoto Vallejo so that she could meet myparents my father meets her my daddy myhero he meets her pulls me to the sideand says is she psycho but anyway we gotogether for a year two years threeyears four years by now Trina's a seniorin college I'm still a freshman but I'mworking some things outI'm so glad I graduated in four termsNixon Ford Carter Reagan so now it'stime to propose so I talked to hergirlfriends and it's California it's inthe 70s so it has to be outside let'shave a candle and you have to have youknow some chocolate listen I'm from thehood add a bottle of Boone's Farm winethat's what I had she said yes that wasthe key I married the most beautifulwoman I've ever seen him upy'all ever been to a wedding and evenbefore the wedding starts you hear thishow in the world and it was coming frommy side of the familywe get married we have a few childrenour lives are great one day Trina findsa lump in her left breasts breast cancersix years after that diagnosis me and mytwo little boys walked up to mommy'scasket and for two years my heart didn'tbeat it wasn't for my faith in God Iwouldn't be standing here today if itwasn't for those two little boys there'dhave been no reason for which to go on Iwas completely lost that was rock bottomyou know what sustained me the wisdom ofa third grade dropout the wisdom of asimple cook we're at the casket I'venever seen my dad cry but this time Isaw my dad cry that was his daughterTrina was his daughter not hisdaughter-in-law and I'm right behind myfather about to see her for the lasttime on this earth and my father sharedthree words with me to change my liferight there at the casket it would bethe last lesson he would ever teach mehe said son just stand you keep standingyou keep sitting no matter how rough thesea you keep standing and I'm nottalking about just water you keepstanding no matter what you don't giveup and as clearly as I'm talking to youtoday these were some of her last wordsto me she looked me in the eye and shesaid it doesn't matter to me any longerhow long I live what matters to me mostis how I live- all one question a question that I wasasked all my life by a third-ratedropout how you livin how you live itevery day asked yourself that questionhow you live in here's here's what acook would suggest you to live this waythat you would not judge that you wouldshow up early that you'd be kind thatyou make sure that that servants town ishuge and use that if you're gonna dosomething you do it the right way thatthat cook would tell you this that it'snever wrong to do the right thing thathow you do anything is how you doeverything and in that way you will growyour influence to make an impact in thatway you will honor all those who havegone before you who have invested in youlook in those unlikeliest places pleaseenhance your life every day by seekingthat wisdom and asking yourself everynight how am i living may God richlybless y'all