On Travelling and How to Just DO IT: JD, Jackson, and Buck Lewis at TEDxCharlotte

[Applause] Wow what an incredible experience to be here today I have to tell you it's for us it's pretty emotional because it all started for us here at TEDx last year if you were here you saw we we recorded a video on the shores of the sacred Ganges in Varanasi India and we shipped it in and then we called in live the day of the conference and we did a live Q&A and to come back today and be here after our adventure it feels like we've come full-circle and what an honor so thank you so much this is Jackson hi bye it's loud and I'm JD and we created a project called 12 and 12 we went to 12 countries in 12 months and did humanitarian work and unbeknownst to us we created a world record we're the first family in history to have traveled to all seven continents in one year specifically to do humanitarian work thank you we traveled to Germany Russia China Hong Kong India Thailand Egypt Rwanda Tanzania Kenya South Africa Australia United Arab Emirates Antarctica Argentina Bolivia Peru Panama Haiti and then we finished up our work in Gulfport Mississippi working with Habitat for Humanity we worked in orphanages we worked in schools hospitals homeless shelters and with animal rescue it's a project that has certainly changed the course of our lives we feel so blessed to have been able to have the experience this project stemmed from one simple idea and that was Jackson's idea at the age of 13 years old and I'm gonna let him tell you a little bit about that hi so I'm Jackson and the trip started really I was talking to some of my friends about what we could do to make a difference in the world and I brought up with my dad when we got home and we started thinking and I don't know where the idea came from like really we were just talking but um we ended up deciding to go and travel to do humanitarian work and we went to 12 countries in 12 months and the whole trip was just amazing it was great and I think the most memorable experience was in Beijing China at the new Hope Foundation right there that's me that boys ray-ray he was one of the kids we spent a lot of time with I spent a lot of time with him at the orphanage he had no use of his legs and limited use of his arms but he was the sweetest kid like he would scoot across the floor every morning to say hi to us and he was really fun and he was a great kid and we spent a lot of time with him and the other kids it was really hard to leave like that's how it was every month it was just hard to leave we spent so much time with the people and what I've learned from the experience is that a small idea can have unlimited power where is he no one limited here on the minute power and I'm really proud of what we got to do so thank you for having us and young buckaroo also had quite a contribution to our trip and I'll let him tell you about that ask my dad word I was gonna do on the trip and he said what do you want to do and I said I want to bring Legos all around the world and that is how I became the global ambassador for Legos and he said I should I should um write a letter to the CEO of Legos in Denmark and we did and then they responded saying they would love for me to be the global ambassador for Legos and all and they shipped big like ginormous crates about the size of that TV over there I was Legos and I remember went so I could hand them out and my dad taught me the power of a good letter and all you have to do is put it out there and now we have now Jackson and I have friends all over the world and I'm right there in the in India actually you know coming home we received a lot of incredible accolades we were named American heroes by The Huffington Post and given our own blog we were also by a number of publications made people of the year and for us that's incredibly touching but today I really want to talk about you not us we've done it and you can go check out our blog at our website all the stories are there and all of the pictures but today I want to talk about you I want to talk about creating a dream for yourself and it doesn't have to necessarily change the world but it has to change your world you know I love being here at TEDx because I feel like this is my tribe you're my people you're the people that are free thinkers and I've been taught I've been an actor my whole life and I studied acting with a man named Milton to sell us who taught me the most powerful lesson in my entire life and that was to run as quickly as you can from middle America thinking truly and I'm not sliding I'm not sliding the middle of America I love America but the thinking has got to be changed you know I was raised in a country where we were taught to live by the straight and narrow be part of the status quo to get the corporate job for the insurance you know that's the greatest bit of hooey I have ever heard in my entire life get the job for the insurance my family told me that people live their lives at a job that doesn't inspire them for the insurance and the 401k and the retirement at 65 well at 65 you're so burned out from having a life of no passion that you can enjoy your retirement so I want to teach my children to be free thinkers I want them to think outside of the box and I want them to pick goals that changes their life and changes the course of the lives around them so I know everybody out here has a passion and a desire and I'd ask for you to go out today and think about it and there more than one I've had a lot in my lifetime but I was taught I'm lucky that I've been taught that I can do the thing that I'm passionate about and you know when it was read I said do the thing that you're passionate about I believed it 100% and will there be naysayers absolutely there will be people you will come up against it will tell you you can't do it we had that going on in our trip I had a student say to me JD what are you thinking taking your kids around the world there are communist countries out there that will put you in prison like oh where do you learn that where do you learn that I'm gonna tell you a quick story when I was in high school I worked at a Bob's Big Boy that's like a Shoney's here I think you guys have Shoney's and I was a fast order cook and I would sing at the top of my lungs and flip burgers and there was a manager there his name was Moe and he was probably early 60s a balding man married but was having sex with any waitress that would have him good guy and he said to me one day he said Lewis what do you want to be when you grow up and I said I want to be a musician I want to be a singer I want to be a rock star and I'll never forget he looked at me and he laughed and he said you can't sing and you know in that moment he was an authority figure he was somebody I looked up to he was a manager and I was a naive vulnerable kid and I had a place for that information and I sucked it in I went well if Moe says I can't sing I guess I can't sing and I squelch that dream I did I went off to college and my friends would say hey do you want to join my band and I'd be like no man I'm not into that and I was scared to death you know years later I worked as an actor and I started coaching and teaching acting and I created a workshop called the artists weekend where I take 24 artists into the mountains and it's a goal-setting weekend and you look at where your life is at and where it's headed and you look at the roadblocks and the way and you set goals to plow through them and get what you want and in one of those particular weekends the story about Moe and Bob's Big Boy came up and I expressed it with 24 artists and I said now it's my turn I've got to do battle with this old thinking that I've taken on and so with a lot of fear and trepidation I set a goal to do an evening of music in front of an invited audience of 50 people at my theater well I was I can't say the S word in front of my children sure I can but I was wetting myself and all that old belief system came up for me it came up for me and I was like I can't do this this is too much and the day of I was beside myself anyway I got up and it's funny because one of the people that attended the evening said when you came out you grabbed the mic and your knuckles were blue and I stood there and the first note came out of my mouth and then it got okay and you know what people came up to me afterwards and they said holy cow who knew you had like an amazing voice that's like really cool and you know four years after that I did gigs all over LA in front of hundreds of people as a musician and we named the and Moe lied the point being is guys we have holes in us sometimes we're insecure in moments and we take on information from people that is not ours it's someone's belief system that doesn't belong to us because they live in fear that's not who we are we're this tribe or tedx people we think differently were people who didn't yeah apply you know I'm a single gay man and 15 years ago I adopted my first child Jackson which changed the course of my life in more ways than I can even share to live at 15 Wow holy cow but 15 years ago it wasn't the norm for a single male who happened to be gay to adopt a kid and I came up against it everyone I knew what are you doing what are you doing my aunt who raised me said to me why would you do something so stupid you have this incredible life you hang out with celebrities you travel around the world and I said yeah I've done that and now I want to create a family and she said why would you you you can't do that and I said yes I can and then my sister for Mississippi piped in and I love this you'll get a kick out of it she said they call me chip my family call me chip she said Cheeta who he's gonna give a gay a baby who is gonna give a game Oh baby I love my sister she will kill me for saying that here but you know what years later after adopting two of my children who I'm incredibly incredibly proud of we went back to visit my sister for my nephew's wedding and we were sitting in her living room with the entire Mississippi in-laws and I said Linda who would give a gay a baby you know what go on and do it people will say no and I'll tell you why they say no it's not to hurt you it's not to stymie your dream it's not from where they see it it's too scary my aunt who told me not to adopt a child when I went to adopt a second child she said why would you be so stupid you have a great child and I said oh ma I caught her oh ma I said oh ma are we gonna do this again we went through this the first time and it all worked out really cool I go why would you do it again and she said to me because I put myself in your position and I couldn't do it and I go there lies the ticket you're an 80 year old woman of course you couldn't do it I'm a 40 year old man with a lot of energy so the point being the naysayers aren't doing it to be horrible they're doing it because they're scared and you know what there are two kinds of people the people that succumb to your fear and the people that go I'm just gonna do it because I have to it's my calling it's my mission when Jackson came home I guess nearly two years ago and said dad we have this incredible life how can we're not doing more to make a difference in the world my initial reaction was who are you and what have you done with my child and then I went to bed that night and I thought I've gotta honor this when I was 13 years old I wasn't thinking about the world I was thinking about smoking pot and surfing with my friends I had no concern about the world and I thought here is a at 13 years old who cares deeply I've got to make a powerful statement and the next day I woke up and we were at breakfast and I said boys we got to do something we got to do it and this idea of 12 and 12 fell from the sky truly fell from the sky I said what about if we went around the world and really saw what people need and they were like cool that'll be cool we had no idea we didn't have money you guys we didn't have connections in the humanitarian world we had nothing in place other than a great passion to make a difference and I had a great passion that I wanted to teach my kids to be men that the world needed and you know what we put one step in front of the other and you know what happens is when you put a pinpoint on the horizon and you make a choice in a statement and you claim it in front of your friends and family amazing things occur things that you would never have imagined come to the forefront it's because you have a focal point and you're heading in that direction and you're now aware of opportunities that before when your focus was all over the place you weren't recognizing how 12 and 12 began I got on the internet and I looked up the Peace Corps I said they'll know something they're all over the world and there was a number for the global and nothing global the global director of the Peace Corps that's Oh call her so I called out and a guy named Nick picked up the phone and I said Nick listen I'm a single dad with two boys you're a single dad I go yeah I adopted my kids at birth agos no way you'll so I'm a single dad and I want to adopt kids and I go cool your target on the right guy I'm sort of an advocate for it I do speaking engagements on the subject he was like oh my god and we talked for like 45 minutes and at the end of it he said to me do you mind if I tell my boss about your project and I said yeah who's your boss and he goes Esther Benjamin she's the global director of the peace I was like yeah that'd be good two days later I'm in my in my house and the phone rings and verbatim she says I don't know who you are but I'm a single mom with two kids the exact age of your boys and I know the value of this trip because my kids have traveled all over the world with me and it's changed the course of their lives and I was like who is this and she was like a tester Benjamin and I nearly dropped the phone I was anyway we spoke and she said anything I can do to help let me know a week later I flew to Washington DC and I had dinner with her and in that evening I knew my boys and I were gonna travel around the world she helped me pick 12 countries she left me on my own to pick the the organizations that we would work with but she was somebody that believed in our dream and then I told all of our friends and family about this project and we started to raise money there was a time you guys when it didn't look like it was happening we created a 12k trail race at the White Water Center here and it looked like there weren't going to be enough people to come by the way it's happening in a few weeks please come but we didn't think it was gonna happen and I remember not being able to get out of bed and I thought oh this is not gonna happen my kids have told their friends that they're traveling around the world we had done new shows about it and I thought I'm gonna be the laughingstock of Charlotte and I am going to be the dad that let their kids down the loser guy and we went out to dinner one night I'll never forget this as long as I live we went to a restaurant and we were sitting there and literally the wind was out of my sails and I said I was about to broach the subject of you guys I don't know if this is gonna happen divine intervention I looked down on my phone there is a message from Yoko at imagine peace dot-org and I thought it was spam I hit the button and it came up and the message says I've heard about your project and in big letters that said just go do it all my love and support Yoko Ono and I was like you know to be honest I'm not at my church family because it wasn't like wow but Jackson was a huge fan of John Lennon and I said it's it's a sign and it was the thing I needed to go home and brush myself off and go let's brick and do it this train is unstoppable and from that moment on we worked so hard to get it going on the point is is pick a focal point on the horizon pick it you don't have to know how you're gonna get there I promise you we did not know but pick it it is in the action of actually claiming it and telling people around you to tell them to hold you accountable to do it that starts to create the magic and yet people go yeah yeah but that's too intense and in a hundred years we're all going to be dead do the hootie-hoo people gonna be dead right it's true I chose and I am choosing and I hope I'm teaching my children the same way to choose a life that's incredible that when I look back on it I've done the dance has it been scary hasn't been a lot of work yeah but you know what that's why we're here that's why we're on this planet to make a difference and every single person in this room that I'm looking at can make a difference and every single person here can make a difference you just have to claim it you have to claim it so I'm gonna I have to claim that I apparently need to get off the stage people are starting to give me their eyes like I shut up I want to just close by saying there's a Wallace Stevens quote that says after the final know there comes a yes and on that yes the future of the world depends behind every no you get and believe me we've got a lot of them I've had knows my entire life behind that know there's always a yes and there's always a way and an alternate route to get where you're going all you have to do is claim it and go do it and lastly I just want to say thank you so much to TEDx Charlotte they have been family for us through our entire adventure it's such a pleasure to be here today and I want to thank every single one of you for being part of our tribe because you're the people that give us the bravery to do what we did and your support has meant the world to me and my family it is truly meant the world for all of the emails that we've received and all of the support it has allowed us to go man we got a family behind us and we can do more and that's what we're doing now we're heading out we've created a foundation the twelve and twelve foundation and we're helping twelve of the organizations that we had the great honor of working with all over the world we're helping them raise funds awareness and supplies so thank you for making us braver we have a big task ahead of us and I know we're going to get a lot of nose we're gonna have a lot of naysayers we're gonna have to deal with a lot of corporate red tape but I know that my boys and I are capable of making a difference and I thank you for that thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 59,229

Rating: 4.8215613 out of 5

Keywords: tedx talk, tedx talks, jd lewis, ted talk, passion, adventure, ted, ted x, travel, twelve in twelve, tedx, service, ted talks, j.d. lewis

Id: KgAPxq9-T9o

Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2013