What Is In Your Lifes Blueprint

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