(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.
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