Top 5 EPIC COMEBACK Speeches | Motivation To PROVE THEM WRONG | Goalcast
[Music]
you know I struggled at school I was the
kid who spent most of the day chilling
out with the janitor in the hallway
right I was the kid in middle school who
had such a hard time keeping his mouth
shut and then I grew up on a first-name
basis with Shirley the receptionist and
the principal’s office and I was a kid
in high school who had such a hard time
learning to read that I spent most of my
high-school days hiding in the bathroom
to escape reading out loud with tears
streaming down my face I was diagnosed
with dyslexia foreign language based
learning disability in fourth grade I
was diagnosed with a DD or attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder in fifth
grade and I dropped out of school for a
year in sixth grade I was a kid who
believed that because I was different I
was deficient that I was the stupid
crazy and lazy kid and you can imagine
by the time I realized there were a lot
of low expectations that surrounded me I
was told by my dad that I would probably
be a high school dropout and I was told
by a teacher unfortunately that I would
most likely end up in jail or
incarcerated but you know what I beat
those odds
you know transcended those low
expectations
I want to spend my time with you talking
about what are the things investments
commitments that help young folks like
me beat those low expectations and prove
them wrong you know in my life that was
really three things I’m here today
because of multiple teachers but I want
to tell you about one of them guy named
father young met father young at a
tipping point in my life where I could
have went left but I went right you know
first college before brown I won
Marymount University went there on
soccer scholarship thought I was a dumb
jock couldn’t be anything but that and
on the first day on campus the soccer
coach made us go around to the different
departments and listen to the
presentations and I went around and I
didn’t listen to anything until I got to
the English department and the chair of
the department father Young was up there
talking about literature and learning
like his head was on fire and I was
smooth so I went up to him afterwards I
said father young you moved me I think I
might want to be an English major here
at LMU but I don’t know if I can do it I
don’t read well and write well i don’t
spell well and the guy looked right at
me and said I believe in you some of the
most gifted thinkers in the world wbh
John Irving they were thinkers like you
you can do this so I was changed that
moment I walked across campus to the
other side to the Dean of Academic
enrollment I walked into that guy’s
office and I said I’m gonna study me
some English literature here at LMU
right it is game time let’s do this you
know and that guy he pulled out my file
right the individualized education plan
the IEP right and it’s a KGB got nothing
on the IEP okay
they’ve been doing deep intel on me my
whole life it ain’t good news in that
file it’s this Nick he flips through it
he laughs and he says English literature
I won’t approve that major you should
consider something less intellectual so
I was deflated like a balloon back to
the kid in the hallway walked back
across campus to father young and said
not gonna be an English major and he
said why I said that guy thinks it’s too
hard because of my disabilities father
Young was real quiet then he looked at
me and he said in a way that only an old
school Jesuit can he said well son I
guess you’re just gonna have to prove
that bastard wrong
and the next day I enrolled in for
English literature classes and that guy
who told me I should consider something
less intellectual let’s just say that he
has an autographed copy of both of my
books on his desk right now I was a kid
who believed that because I was
different I was deficient that I was the
stupid crazy and lazy kid but I’ve come
to believe to my core that these things
that we have labeled to be deficiencies
or disorders aren’t that they are
differences in the truest sense of the
word and the thing that really disables
individuals is the way that those
differences are treated by others a
foundation of my journey of change was a
deep commitment to not just fixing kids
problems but finding and celebrating and
scaling their strengths and if you
listen to any journey of change by
somebody like me who grew up in the
hallway it’s all about finding that
thing that they are good at I want to
spend my time celebrating the potential
of those kids who learn and live
differently every single human being has
a strengths talent or interest that you
can find and you can build a life on
find your strengths and compensate for
your weaknesses
what happened to you can you imagine how
long ago I got tired of answering that
question but the fact of the matter is
my physical form my story is indeed part
of the very powerful message that I
believe surrounds attitude I was on a
plane going to Vegas a couple of weeks
ago and a lady was sitting beside me on
the plane the plane took off she seemed
to be uncomfortable that’s not uncommon
all she did was look at me and go one
word the lid of mine to lid amide was
never meant to be given to pregnant
women in fact it was a sedative and it
was supposed to be so safe they thought
that anybody could take it now the drug
was banned in 1963 thank God because it
by then had only deformed over 20,000
babies it could have been hundreds of
thousands had the drug continued to live
on now it’s interesting because this is
what she went on to say I didn’t take
those pills
something told me to throw them in the
garbage and I am so glad I did because I
was blessed with healthy normal babies
the point is solidified was a terrible
terrible thing
but that’s not how I see it in my own
personal life my life started in a very
unorthodox fashion there is no question
that being born without arms is not
something people would wish for right it
called us the victims I disagree
August 23rd 1985 was the first time in
my life I ever considered how my own
mother and father must have felt the
first time they held me and then it
occurred to me an even more powerful
thought my mom was 55 years old the
first time she held me and my dad was 53
and I was an orphan in Yorkton
Saskatchewan because my birth family
were consulted and counseled and advised
to simply sign papers and give me up
because in 1960 babies born with severe
handicaps had no life so on the fourth
day of my life I was homeless enter my
life the changers Hilda la Jacqueline so
Hilda was my primary caregiver
Hilda had an attitude that is very
difficult for me to describe she saw
something that nobody else saw and that
was yes indeed a positive potential they
loved me they took me home they were
charitable they were very very powerful
in their faith but not one time did I
view them as nice okay I had to make my
bed every morning before school I had to
pick up my toys every night before bed I
had to vacuum the carpet three times a
week his mother expected neatness
wondering every day do you really love
me I knew that I would not easily climb
Mount Everest I knew there were certain
things that were impossible for me and
then one day I found a piano and that
was huge I’m looking at my feet I’m
watching the piano I’m thinking I’m
gonna suck at this too that’s how I felt
but mom heard me play and she came
racing down to the basement
and she was at you I gave the standard
ten-year-old answer do you see anybody
else down here and then she made me play
it again and then she stood behind the
piano crying I would ask my mother in
fact quite frankly it was the week she
met my son
why did you cry behind the piano that
day she said you don’t really understand
do you
what a hard it was to be with you every
day to see the looks to see the stairs
to hear the insults but more than
anything the hardest part Alvin was to
push you beyond belief it was within
every illogical thought in my brain to
not do that to you
to not force you to not challenge you to
not take you to extremes that people
thought I was cruel with you give any
idea what that felt like that’s why I
cried
hello mrs. Law my name is Blaine
McCleary I’m the band director for the
Yorkton city band program you have a son
named Alvin we do is Alvin have a talent
for music that you’re aware of do you
think he’d like to be in the band
well mr. McCleary probably a good time
to tell you that alvin sort of has no
arms hello but when I walked in the
house and saw my mom smiling in 1971
I’ll never forget that smile I’ll never
forget that day she had a great smile
ugly teeth great smile
she goes honey I Got News for you you’re
gonna be in the band what band school
dad well how’d that happen I don’t know
we’re gonna go to the school and find
out right now get in the car go to
school on the way to the school she told
me about the first phone call that
happened six weeks earlier you didn’t
tell me about it cuz they got hung up
you know what hurt my feelings and then
she said but he called back this morning
he says he’s got an instrument for you
to play a trombone a trombone for God’s
sake and like a game show host he went
what do you think I was 11 what do you
think I thought it was the stupidest
looking thing I’ve ever seen in my
entire life well can you move the slide
with your foot yeah I can do that well I
can do that that’s cooking can you make
this noise okay good can you do it in
the mouthpiece moves like yeah well this
noise came out eleven-year-olds up noise
don’t they but I particularly was
affected I love that sound
just a feeling that day changed the
pathway of my life what really changed
my world was it the trombone not exactly
the girls didn’t want to date me because
they couldn’t quite grasp holding on to
this that’s what makes my wife Darlene
that much more special she doesn’t see
the outside she sees the human and there
is a difference my life and music is
what changed it all music taught me that
life is not changed in one day in one
week in one year take steps after step
after step step by step
[Music]
IRA Jim clapper that of you like why did
I just do that to show off yeah to
impress you
yeah I want to impress you
cuz of my ego
don’t see that that was the most
important thing that I learned in my
professional life in my opinion and it
is my opinion you earn joy it is not a
human right you attain success
I got a label it’s fixed right on my
forehead and it used to bug me
but it occurred to me I just have to
change what the label says it’s all I
got to do it’s not gonna be easy because
I’m asking society an awful lot to see
the human inside the disability but the
fact is it took me a long time to come
to that conclusion
we’ve all got labels let’s just change
the label it seems the label from victim
to Victor let’s change the label to one
that says I am I am defined as mentally
retarded put back from the fifth grade
into the fourth grade and stand in that
category until I got out of high school
I don’t have any College training but I
meant a high school teacher who one day
changed my life I was waiting on another
student and when he came in he said to
me young man go to the board and write
what I’m about to tell you and I said I
can’t do that turn he said why not I
said I’m not one of your students he
said it doesn’t matter follow my
directions now
and so I can’t do that sir he said why
not I said because I’m magic about
mentally retarded and he came from
behind his desk and he looked at me he
said don’t ever say that again
someone’s opinion of you does not have
to become your reality and as he talked
my heart began to beat fast tears begin
to run round my eyes and I was in the
back just listening to him because the
speech he was giving that speech was for
me and he said Les Brown he said if you
want to do anything worthwhile in life
you’ve got to be hungry I told mr.
Washington I wanted to become a disc
jockey and so I started working to
develop myself he said I want you to
practice every day being a disc jockey I
said but I don’t have any job now he
said it doesn’t matter he said that it’s
better to be prepared for an opportunity
and not have one than to have an
opportunity and not be prepared and as I
was working to develop myself I applied
for a job as a disc jockey WM VMI Miami
Beach I went to a guy named Milton
butterball I said how you doing mr.
butterball I like to get a job as a disc
jockey he looked at me said you have any
broadcast background I said no sir don’t
you have any journalism background I
said no sir don’t he said we don’t have
any jobs available I said yes sir
I went back to mr. Washington and I told
him he said don’t take it personally he
said most people are so negative they
will have to say no seven times before
they say yes he said go back again so I
went back again I said how you doing mr.
butterball my name is les brown he said
I know what your name is what do you
want I said I’d like to know whether or
not you have any jobs at this jockey sir
he said didn’t I just tell you yesterday
we didn’t have any jobs I said yes sir
but I know whether or not somebody got
laid off or somebody was fired sir he
said no one was laid off a fire I get on
out of here I came back the next day
like I’ve seen you for the first time
and say hello mr. butterball how are you
he looked at me with rage he said go get
me some coffee I said yes sir
and I went to get him some coffee after
a while I would give their lunch and
dinner and I would go in the control
rooms and take the disk jockeys their
food and I would not leave until they
would ask me to leave one Saturday
afternoon while I was at the radio
station
a guy named ROC was braking while he was
on the air I was the only one there
looking at him through the control room
windows walking back and forth young
ready and hungry
pretty soon the phone rang and it was a
general manager and I answered the phone
and said hello he said les this is mr.
Klein I said I know he said ROC can’t
finish his program I said I know he said
would you call one of the other DJ’s in
I said yes sir I hung the phone up I
said now he must be think I’m crazy I
called my mom and my girlfriend
Cassandra I said y’all turn up the radio
and come out on the front porch about to
come on the air
I waited for about 20 minutes and I
called him back I said mr. Klein I can’t
find nobody he’s a young boy do you not
have worked in controls I said yes sir
he said going there no sitting on here I
say yes I couldn’t wait to get behind
those controls I’ve put on old Stevie
Wonder record call fingertips i sat down
behind that turntable I said look out
this is me LV Triple P let’s round your
platter playing papa
they were none before me if there will
be none after me therefore that makes me
the one and only young and single in
love Domingo certified bonafide
indubitably qualified to bring you
satisfaction a whole lot of action look
out baby I’m your love man I was hungry
I was hungry
you got to be hungry begin to know that
you have greatness within you and if
just one of you here begin to envision
yourselves as being blessed and highly
favored to reach your goals if just one
of you capture the essence of what that
means that you have greatness within you
and a responsibility to manifest that
greatness that you can make your parents
proud you can make your school proud you
can touch millions of people’s lives and
the world will never be the same again
because you came this way
it was hard ladies and gentlemen coming
to speak to people and I was facing
financial difficulties in my own life I
was behind on my bills and my dreams and
I’m saying to them you can live your
dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen
it was very difficult to pick myself up
each day believing that I can do it
there were times that I doubted myself I
used to ask myself can I do this and
something said within me you’re the one
don’t give up on your dream by
continuing to push forward by continuing
to run toward my dream that one day I
would have my own talk show it’s a long
shot ladies and gentlemen from Liberty
City an abandoned building on a floor
never knowing my mother or father it’s a
long shot being here with you today in
this dome in Atlanta it’s a long shot no
college training labeled educable
mentally retarded but I kept running
toward my
don’t stop
don’t stop running toward your dreams
then what’s the door I was buying just
lining up for lunch
they grabbed me out dragged me all the
way to here like just two or three guys
big guys driving all the way here and
they beat it out of me right at this
spot and there happened multiple times
multiple times I didn’t tell my mom
about it by actually I had nightmares I
will wake up in the morning sweating
this fear this panic as then is so
unpredictable you don’t know when you go
to school when and where you’re gonna
get attacked at a time my mom bought me
one of the these English electronic
dictionary they were very expensive it
was like few hundred dollar US money
that we didn’t have my mom sacrificed so
much for me so much as she decided to to
emigrate to Canada so that I have a
better environment to learn my English
do you have a better future for myself
and in class because I couldn’t
understand what a teacher was saying I
would bring this dictionary out and I’ll
open it up it’s got a little pen and I
would write on it and it will check what
did she teach was saying was reading the
books I didn’t understand what she was
saying and the kids they were just
trashing me they were like what is this
some fancy computer you Asian kid do you
think you bring this stuff latronnik
sing yourself who and then it was like
I’m sorry I didn’t first audience and
what they’re saying I said I don’t I
don’t know I know that’s not what I
meant just what my mom bought for me and
then and then they grab it and they were
running around whether I was trying to
chase it to get it back because I didn’t
want anything to happen to that
electronic dictionary damn kid took the
dictionary the window was open he threw
it out the window and landed on the
pavement and broke the damn thing
I didn’t let that stop me though I was
acting like the dictionary worked but
actually had one of those old paper
dictionary and I was memorizing five to
ten words every day every day I’m
learning because I didn’t want my mom to
find out that that the dictionary didn’t
work and the best way to to hide that
incident is actually by improving my
English so I had one of those big
dictionary I mean it’s all dog year I
mean I flipped through it highlighted
write down and memorize each word I will
pronunciate pronunciate Pro Nancy I will
read through it I will read it a hundred
times just to get one word right I think
every incident even this you can see I
feel it a bit even thinking about a
little bit angry at it but its shape Who
I am today and it trains me not to make
excuse it’s whatever I can use it
whatever I can make out of it there’s
some good that could come out with them
from that kid to who I am today from the
kid who couldn’t speak a word of English
but didn’t have a electronic dictionary
to now writing dozen books and impacting
millions of people but they started here
there is no excuse it doesn’t matter
where you came from doesn’t matter the
rows you’ve been down it doesn’t matter
your background it doesn’t matter your
grace it doesn’t matter you could do it
my grandmother became my first hero
growing up my grandmother never used an
alarm clock but every morning my
grandmother would wake up at 4:15 and at
4:16 her feet would hit the floor
usually right in front of my face and
that’s what would wake me up but I would
lay there and I would pretend like I was
still asleep because me and 4:15 really
didn’t get along
but grandma would look at the back of my
head I could feel her staring at me and
then finally she would say now sugar
grandmama know you ain’t she
you just wants to go on and get on up
and get ready for school
my grandmother was known for saying
things that would kind of make you a
little angry because they made so much
sense
you can argue with it parents you know
there’s things that you when you become
parents do start to say to your own kids
my grandmother would say now son you
knew when you lay down there last night
that you had to get up this morning I
don’t know why every single morning you
lay there and act surprised he also be
thankful that the Loess all fit to wake
you up this in you’re right MA
but what my grandmother was encouraging
me to do was simply to be grateful for
the opportunity in spite of all that I
had been through in my life she just
wanted to make sure that I understood
the opportunity that I’ve been giving my
life got started it was a little rough a
little rough start I was born two months
premature
my mother was walking up a flight of
stairs and she had noticed at the time
but a woman she had had an argument with
earlier was standing above her holding a
pot of boiling water as my mom made her
way up those stairs that woman dumped
that water onto my mom and since her
tumbling down the stairs need to
premature labor
she was 232 B burns over 25% of her body
and when we were finally allowed to
leave the hospital as you can imagine my
mom was in a great deal of pain those
burners to just nearly barely missed her
face and covered most of the front of
her body so when we got home she began
taking a heavy sedative pain medication
to help her recover when she took that
medication it was very difficult for her
to watch me so I would bounce around a
lot I’d stay with my mom for a little
bit and I’d go stay with Grandma
now I stay with some neighbors whose
aunties and then back to my mother’s
house I did that for the first three
years of my life I was three years old I
was back to her mom’s house and I got
into her person I found that medication
I swallowed everything in the bottle
when they found me they rushed me to a
hospital and my heart would stop and
eventually I went to a coma but because
of that accident because of that
incident the state of California they
did an investigation and the conclusion
that they came to was that it wasn’t an
accident
they removed me from my mother’s home
made a ward of the ward of the state and
eventually I went into a foster care
system shortly after I arrived to one of
my foster homes my foster mom her name’s
miss Alexander miss Alexander began
locking inside the closet in a light
she’d open the closet door she kicked me
hitting me with a stick or a strap or
whatever see you whatever she had
it was while I was in that foster home
that I was sexually abused for the first
time oftentimes people ask you know if
that has to be a worst thing that could
happen to something I have scars on my
body that you can’t see
have a burn here in my hand that she
would deal with an iron
but all that pain went away
worse teen that mrs. alexandar would do
is you open the closet door and she was
standing over me she would say it you
stupid never amount to nothing that hurt
me more than any other physical kicks on
the physical PE because I believed it
for a long time I believed that that I
would never amount anything just like
she said
I didn’t notice at the time I found out
a little bit later but my grandmother my
healer she had started going back and
forth to court trying to prove that she
could take care of an active handsome
little water and eventually the state of
California they granted her full custody
of me and I’ll never forget I was I will
never forget standing on this
Alexander’s front porch waiting
she had my little belongings everything
that I had I remember standing there you
may have only been a half an hour but it
felt like an eternity and I can remember
thinking maybe no one’s coming but after
a while at the end of the block I see
the ugliest car I’ve ever seen in my
life and the car pulls out right in
front of the porch and I remember all I
can see these two big glasses bifocals
and I found out later that grandma had
glaucoma she wasn’t supposed to be
driving but she gets out of that big car
and she’s got on this white floppy hat
with this it was a flower right there in
the middle and I remember she had on
this long white dress that came all the
way down to her ankles and I found out
later that you know that was grandma
Sunday best it was not fit that she only
reserved for special occasions I can
remember for once in my life feeling
like I was some special occasion
I remember jumping into grandma’s arms
and squeezing her and I remember her
whispering and saying to me everything’s
okay your family and everything was okay
just like grandmother said and I had a
lot to look forward to I found out that
my mom was going to court trying to
prove that she could take care of me and
I could remember sitting there with my
mother and we talked and we had a lot of
different conversations one thing I can
remember saying my mother you know one
day when I get big I’m a by you a nice
house with a fireplace say mama one day
I’m gonna buy you a nice car not like
Grandma and get you a nice one
but the truth is I just really wanted to
become a family again and that’s what I
looked forward to when I was 12 years
old I was asleep on my grandmother’s
floor was about 4 o’clock in the morning
we get a knock on the door
it was my mom’s roommate miss how I miss
how I come quit
miss how was my grandma she said come
quick it’s Ruth Ruth was my mom she said
I can’t wake her up I think she’s dead
and I can remember laying on that floor
you know kind of wishing it was thinking
hoping but it was maybe a dream but it
wasn’t and that’s how I found out that
all the hopes and dreams and things that
I had to look forward to weren’t gonna
happen
I became very angry I became confused I
was hurt and really understand what was
happening I started acting out hanging
out with wrong people or 18 houses
started stealing cars I’ve remembered
not really caring what happened to me
continue that behavior until I was 19
I was 19 I found myself standing in
front of the judge I was handcuffed had
a chain around my waist and wear
handcuffs were attached to that chain
the judge looked at me since the state
of California sentences you 15 years in
prison for armed robbery and assault
[Music]
that day when that door closed behind me
for the first time as a convicted felon
I remember standing in that empty cell
remember I need he started to get weak
and I started to shake uncontrollably I
collapsed I fell to the floor
I just started crying alone I remember
hearing voices heard the voice of my
foster mom saying you stupid me whatever
about to nothing heard a voice of family
members and friends of family I said
that boy’s gonna end up just like his
father my father was a career criminal
prison I can remember laying there
thinking to myself that this is where
I’m gonna die but here’s what happened
that would change my life shortly after
I arrived to that prison there was an
educator there his name was Charles
Lyell’s 6 to 3 ex-marine and I don’t
know what it was about me but every time
he saw him he said hey mr. Humphrey
he had his big smile on his face it’s
now that my kids would say that’s creepy
but he’s smiling so hey mr. Humphrey how
are you doing he always called me mr.
Humphrey you gave me that respect he
walked into my cell he looked at me he
said mr. Humphrey
says prison doesn’t have to be your life
he says you can get out of here and you
can do great things she started to walk
away and before he walked out of myself
he turned around one last time he says
mr. Humphrey I said yes sir
he says I believe in you he walked out
of myself
[Applause]
and if he had continued to stand there
he would have seen the tears running
down my face because no one had ever
said that to me I remember just thinking
to myself I’m gonna make some changes
and I’m gonna change my life and a
little over four years after the day I
could really collapsed and fell to the
floor I walked out of that prison on
parole that was over 18 years ago I’ve
never been back other than the mentor
helped other people but here’s what I
know I know that when you’ve had a rough
life when you feel unwanted I know that
when you have hopes and dreams and when
you have things that you can look
forward to and when you have people in
place that support you and push you I
know that that gives you a reason to
live it is a great day to be alive and
that’s something that I haven’t always
said but now it’s something that I say
to myself every single day at some point
if I’m having a great day or a bad day
that’s something that I say but what I
also understand is that what my
grandmother was taking her higher power
for each and every day was for the
opportunity that she’d been given
and she never missed an opportunity to
tell anyone that would listen especially
me it’s a great day
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
