【英語スピーチ】小学校で中退した父からの教え｜卒業式でスピーチ｜リック・リグスビー

The wisest person I ever met in my life a third grade dropouts Wisest and dropout in the same sentence is rather oxymoronic like jumbo shrimp Mm-hmm Like fun run ain't nothing fun about it And it's not oxymoronic for me to say third grade and dropout That third grade dropout the wisest person I ever met in my life who taught me to combine knowledge and Wisdom to make an impact was my father a simple cook Why is this man ever met in my life just a simple cook? Left school in the third grade to help out on the family farm But just because he left school doesn't mean it doesn't education stopped Mark Twain once said I've never allowed my schooling to get in the way of my education My father taught himself how to read taught himself how to write Decided in the midst of Jim Crow ism as America was breathing the last gasp of the Civil War My father decided he was going to stand and be a man Not a black man Not a brown man. Not a white man, but a man He literally challenged himself to be the best that he could all the days of his life A third grade dropout daddy who was quoting Michelangelo saying to us boys I won't have a problem if you aim high and miss but I'm gonna have a real issue if you aim low and hit I Learned that from a third grade drop simple lessons lessons like these son You'd rather be an hour early than a minute late We never knew what time it was at my house because the clocks were always ahead My mother said for nearly 30 years. My father left the house at 345 in the morning one day She asked him why daddy he said maybe one of my boys will catch me in the act of excellence I want to share two things with you Aristotle said you are what you repeatedly do Therefore excellence ought to be a habit not an act. Don't ever forget that. I know you're tough I know you're seaworthy, but always remember to be kind always don't ever forget that never embarrass mama Mm-hmm. Yeah, if mommy ain't happy ain't nobody happy if daddy ain't happy don't nobody care, but you know Tell you next lesson Son, make sure your servants towel is bigger than your ego Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity Y'all might have a relative in mind you want to send that to let me say it again Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity pride is the burden of a foolish person John wouldn't coach basketball at UCLA for a living But his calling was to impact people and with all those national championships Guess what? He was found doing in the middle of the week going into the cupboard grabbing a broom and sweeping his own gym floor You want to make an impact? Find your broom Every day of your life You find your broom you grow your influence that way that way you're attracting people so that you can impact them final lesson Son if you're gonna do a job Do it, right? I've always been told how average I can be Always been criticized about being average, but I want to tell you something I stand here before you before all of these people not listening to those words But telling myself Every single day to shoot for the stars to be the best that I can be good enough Isn't good enough if it can be better and better isn't good enough if it can be best Let me close with a very personal story that I think will bring all this into focus Wisdom will come to you in the unlikeliest of sources a lot of times through failure I'm not worried that you'll be successful. I'm worried that you won't fail from time to time Person that gets up off the canvas and keeps growing. That's the person that will continue to grow their influence To help me make this point. Let me introduce you to someone. I'm at the finest woman. I'd ever met in my life Mm-hmm. This woman was the finest woman I'd ever seen in my life There's just one little problem back then ladies didn't like big old linemen The blind side hadn't come out yet They Like quarterbacks and running backs any former quarterbacks or running backs here raise your hands why a couple of you punks anyway, so we're at this dance and I find out her name is Trina Williams from Lompoc, California and and I decide in the middle of dancing with her that I would ask her for a phone number She Trina was the first one Trina was the only woman in college who gave me her real telephone number The next day we walked to Baskin and Robbins ice cream parlor my friends couldn't believe it This has been 40 years ago and my friends still can't believe it We go on a second date and a third date and a fourth date Mm-hmm We drive from Chico to Vallejo so that she could meet my parents my father meets her my daddy My hero he meets her pulls me to the side and says is she psycho but anyway We go together for a year two years three years four years by now Trina's a senior in college So now it's it's time to propose. So I talked to her girlfriends and she said yes That was the key. I married the most beautiful woman. I'd ever seen him I y'all ever been to a wedding and even before the wedding starts you hear this How in the world? And it was coming from my side of the family We get married. We have a few children Our lives are great One day Trina finds a lump in her left breast breast cancer six years after that diagnosis Me and my two little boys walked up to mommy's casket and for two years my heart didn't beat It wasn't for my faith in God. I wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for those two little boys There had been no reason for which to go on I was completely lost That was rock-bottom. You know what sustained me the wisdom of a third-grade dropout We're at the casket and I'm right behind my father about to see her for the last time on this earth And my father shared three words with me that changed my life right there at the casket It would be the last lesson he would ever teach me. He said son Just stand You keep standing You keep stick no matter how rough the sea you keep standing and I'm not talking about just water You keep standing No matter what you don't give up. I learned that lesson from a third-grade dropout ask y'all one question a Question that I was asked all my life by a third-grade dropout How you living? How you living every day ask yourself that question how you living here's here's what a cook would suggest You to live this way that you would not judge That you would show up early That you'd be kind that you make sure that that servant's towel Is huge and use that if you're gonna do something you do it the right way That that that cook would tell you this that it's never wrong to do the right thing That how you do anything is how you do everything and in that way? You will grow your influence to make an impact in that way You will honor all those who have gone before you who have invested in you look in those unlikeliest places for wisdom Enhance your life every day by seeking that wisdom and asking yourself every night How am I living? May God richly bless y'all. Thank you for having me