What Is In Your Life's Blueprint | Jimmy White IV | TEDxIntrepidAveStudio

i want to ask you a question and that is what is in your life's blueprint i went to the worst middle school in the city of philadelphia barrett middle school and i know what you're thinking it was middle school how bad could it have been it was so bad that i was once punched in the face for turning in my homework it was so bad that my class once threw chairs at the substitute teacher just for trying to teach it was so bad that a teacher pulled me out of class and said jimmy don't act like the rest of these animals it was so bad in the the trauma so real that i tried to run away from home at the age of 10. it was so bad that i began to question my own memories of the trauma so i did some research and i found articles and reports about the atrocities at barrett middle school violence drugs gangs assaults on female students one report particularly struck me it said in 2008 the suspension rate at barrett middle school was 114 percent let that number sink in 114 percent that meant in theory every student at the school could have been suspended once and 14 suspended twice the school finally closed in 2012 due to poor academic performance fast forward many moves on and i graduated high school and i joined the navy to be a nuclear electrician i volunteered for the submarine service just like my father i served on board the submarine uss montpilliard the mighty monty my subs claim the fame was in 2003 we shot tomahawk missiles in support of operation iraqi freedom it was shock and awe the opening salvo while i was on deployment my family was distant vague letters short emails when i came home for the first time my childhood home was riddled with bullets the calling card of a drive-by shooting that left my brother's friend paralyzed while i was at war fighting for our country south philadelphia streets were a war zone of their own i was halfway across the world i felt hopeless i eventually left the military and decided to come home i've moved back to the greater philadelphia area and i longed to be part of this shared community that longing was answered by a call to service by the travis mannion foundation also known as tmf in 2018 my connection with tmf allowed to give me the opportunity to honor chris hixson chris hixson was the athletic director for parkland high school on that tragic day he confronted the school shooter and saved multiple students lives unfortunately he had to sacrifice his own chris was a fellow navy veteran and his son tom a marine officer tom wrote me a two-page letter describing his father's character and he also put in there this that no matter how bad things get you can always be redeemed by putting your character into action for our efforts tom and i were awarded the 2018 travis mangano foundation if not me then who national award prior to the gala the foundation came to me and said hey jimmy we want to record you presenting to any school in the city guess what school i picked you got it barrett middle school it reopened in 2013 as gw child school and as i was preparing for the filming and the presentation i began to look at the history of the school so i could be prepared i found that dr martin luther king came to barrett junior high school and gave one of his most famous speeches what's in your life blueprint speech aka the street sweeper speech i was at this school for an entire year there was no plaque there was no statue there was no assembly there was no assignment that said that dr martin luther king the dr martin luther king came to south philadelphia and told little brown boys and little brown girls that they even at their age needed to have a life blueprint no one told me so that very moment i made it my goal and my dedication to come back to this school every year so no other generation will not know that they need to have a blueprint it must have went pretty good because the school invited me back and i've come back to this very same school g.w childs every single year to let students know that they need to have a life blueprint so what is a blueprint and why do you need to know that you need to have one in your life a blueprint is something that you build off of if you're building a building you go to an architect and an architect draws what that building should look like how it should be structured and how it should be formulated dr king said that the blueprint will serve as a pattern a guide the model from which you build and to ensure that you have a good solid and sound blueprint dr king said you need to have these three principles in your life blueprint number one in your life's blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity your own worth and your own somebodiness i got a question for you how do you spell somebody-ness s-o-m stop dr king was a minister i'm a minister every now and then a minister will make up a word so that it grabs your audience attention some bodiness is not a real word he made it up what he meant was you need to know your value you need to know your self-worth you need to know that you are important and that you have significance understand that you are uniquely and wonderfully made that your molecular structure is what it is is a statistical miracle the most valuable commodity that we have in the world it is not gold diamonds oil or money it is the human spirit that you possess look the human spirit cannot be replicated it cannot be duplicated it cannot be manufactured it cannot be stolen it has proven itself to be resilient and it has proven itself to be unbreakable you are the very definition of priceless you are somebody say with me i am [Music] somebody i am somebody now in your life's blueprint be sure that you have that a principle of somebodiness secondly in your life's blueprint you must have as a basic principle the determination to achieve excellence everybody do me a favor say excellence excellence excellence is you being the best you that you can possibly be working the hardest you can burning the midnight oil working on your craft to be the best you that you can possibly be dr king said it like this if it falls your life or becomes your job in life to sweep streets sweep streets like michelangelo painted paintings sweet streets like shakespeare created poetry sweet streets like beethoven composed symphonies i like to switch it up for this generation i say sweep streets like elon musk builds companies and sparks innovation sweet streets like tom brady and lebron james leads their teams to championships sweep streets like misty copeland dances and captivates audiences sweep streets like beyonce performs and stands as an icon sweep streets like jay-z raps and don't tell me drake cause drake is trash sweep street so well that the living the dead couldn't do it any better if you can't be a pine on the top of the hill be a scrub in the valley but be the best little scrub on the side of the reel be a bush if you can't be a tree if you can't be a highway just be a trail if you can't be the sun be a star for it isn't by size that you win or you fail be the best of whatever you are everybody do me a favor and say excellence finally in your life's blueprint must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty love and justice beauty love and justice here's the interesting thing the very first principle somebodiness a hundred percent about you the second principle excellence a hundred percent about you this third principle beauty love and justice a hundred percent not about you rather it's about how you appreciate others how you care for others how you treat others let's do a quick exercise what i want you to do is i want you to say one nice thing about somebody that's in a room with you right now one nice thing one nice thing if you're watching this on the internet i want you to send a text message or dm or send an email to someone you care about and when you do it don't thank them for something they did tell them that you appreciate them for one thing that is a good characteristic of them something that you admire about them while you do that i want to do that with you i appreciate you i appreciate the fact that you have you've given me space space for me to tell my truth i appreciate each and every last one of you for going on this journey which is my ted talk i appreciate the fact that you are present thank you i also appreciate this crew that's filming this right now this wouldn't be possible without you okay you should be wrapping up now we should be getting ready to uh to move on so question how did it feel how did it feel when you said something nice to somebody else how did it feel when you received the compliment yourself think about this in three minutes we just did everything that dr martin luther king wanted us to do with this principle beauty i like to define beauty as you appreciating the difference in something else it is human nature for us to like the things that we have in common but it takes character and it takes strength to appreciate our differences our differences are the super power that we have in this world it's the very thing that makes us special and unique imagine a world where we celebrated our differences instead of hating each other because of them secondly love love is an action word don't just talk to talk you also need to walk the walk prove it to me in your actions prove that you care show it to me in the things that you do last but not least justice here's the thing that compliment that you gave that person that might be the first compliment that they heard all day it might be the first symbol of appreciation that they heard all week it might be the first kind thing that they heard all month and i'm married with kids so it'll be the first compliment i heard all year just kidding honey just kidding honey i appreciate you i'm just kidding but in three minutes we just show beauty love and justice with a single compliment imagine if we use these principles in everything that we do in every interaction in every conversation in every moment be intentional about beauty love and justice now that you've heard these principles it's now time for you to build and draw your life blueprint do me a favor and grab a piece of paper i want you to fold it into three trifold and on each part i want you to draw the future of your life in the first column i want you to draw one year into the future i want you to begin to create the foundation that is your education that you're getting right now i want you to build a foundation of your community of your family of the love that you share and the hobbies and passions that you have in the second column i want you to build off that foundation and i want five years in the future for you to begin to grow from grade to grade year to year advancing with excellence and in five years i want you thinking about what's next in your life will you go to college will you join the military will you pick up a trade whatever you decide to do i want you to do it well and i wanted to build towards your legacy and then ten years from now this last column i want you to draw a picture of yourself living a life of legacy i want you to see the erectic structure that is you and how you are beginning to live a life of purpose a life of meaning and a life of impact not for yourself but for others when you complete it i want you to share it share it with me send it to my email on my website if you can't get it to me share it with a parent share it with a teacher share it with a family friend share it with a mentor here's the thing we cannot go on this path all by ourselves you need help you need support you need people to give you the resources to accomplish the goals you're looking to achieve you need help on your life's journey ask for it ask for it in conclusion this life journey will not be easy you will encounter obstacles and setbacks you will want to quit on life you will want to give up your dreams i challenge you today to overcome those obstacles and be the you that you plan on being overcome those obstacles and continue to strive continue to build continue to grow keep moving keep learning keep earning keep building keep growing keep going forward no matter what if you can't fly run if you can't run walk if you can't walk crawl but by all means keep moving you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 5,890

Rating: 4.9428573 out of 5

Keywords: Education, English, History, Self improvement, Self-help, TEDxTalks

Id: Q_DTMbm4EJs

Length: 20min 51sec (1251 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021