Make an Impact – Rick Rigsby

(難しい 高校生・大学生, Make an Impact | Rick Rigsby  | Youtubeのスピーチ
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1CSrD5kbQA
)

The wisest person / I ever met in my life / a third-grade dropouts.

"Wisest" and "Dropout" /in the same sentence / is rather oxymoronic(矛盾表現の), /  like jumbo shrimp(大きな小エビ).

( 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 , wisest man / I 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 /his 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(真っ只中) of Jim Crowism(黒人の蔑称=人種差別主義) , 
As America was breathing / the last gasp(最後のあえぎ) / of the Civil War(ここでは南北戦争).

(gonna = going to )
My father decided/  he was gonna 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(目的を高く設定する) and miss(失敗する) , 
 but I'm gonna have a real issue / if you aim low(目的を低く設定する) and hit(目的を達成する).


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 / cuz the clocks were always ahead.

My mother said , for nearly 30 years , my father left the house / at 3:45 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(しなくてはならない) be a habit / not an act.

Don't ever forget that.

I know you're tough. 
I know you're seaworthy(波に対して耐性がある).

But always remember / to be kind, always.

Don't ever forget that.
Never embarrass mama. 

(mm-hmm.)

If mama ain't happy , ain't nobody happy.

If daddy ain't happy , don't nobody care.
But you know, I'm 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.

You 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 Wooden coached basketball / at UCLA for a living , 
But his calling was the impact people , 
and with all those national championships , 
guess what he was found doing / in the middle of the week?

Going into the cupboard(用具置き場),/ grabbing a broom(ほうき) / 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(しそうにないところから) ,  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.

(gets up off the canvas  {リングの}キャンバスからたちあがる) 
The 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 met 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 was just one little problem.

Back then , ladies didn't like big old linemen.
"The Blind Side" hadn't come out yet.

They liked quaterbacks and running backs.
Any former quaterbacks or running backs here ? Raise your hands.
A couple of you. Punks(しょうもないね). Anyway, so.

We're at this dance , and I find out / her name is Trina Williams / from Lompoc, 
California.


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 friend 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 time to propose , so I talk to her girlfriends / and

she said, "Yes."

That was the key.  I married the most beautiful woman / I've ever seen in my life.

You 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(しこり、塊)  / 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.

If 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 would have 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 / to change 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 stand. 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.

I ask you all / one question.

A question / that I was asked all my life / by a third grade dropout. 

How you live in?

How you live in ?

Everyday ask yourself that question.

How you live in.

Here's what a cook / would suggest you to live , this way. 
That you'd not judge.
That you'd show up early.
That you'd be kind.
That you'd make sure that / servants towel is huge and used.
That if you're gonna do something / you do it the right way. 

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.

And in that way , / you will honor / all those who have
gone before you / who've 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 you all.

Thank you for having me here.