The Power of Language to Redefine What Matters

[Music]

thank you good morning

after that great talk that we have with

jermaine

it’s impossible it’s impossible to

really follow up

however however instead of a

presentation

i’m not going to push my luck i want us

to have a conversation

una cometa vuela salto

encontra del viento que con el viento

a kite rises against the wind

not with the wind never fear opposition

those were were etched in my first

prison cell

in 1994 my name is javier miranda

and i’m here today to talk about the

power of language to redefine what

matters

i also want to take this opportunity to

introduce you to a

concept for personal development called

the six accounts

but first a story and like all the

stories that i enjoy the most

this one start with once upon a time

so once upon a time this handsome fellow

was imprisoned in a massive security

prison

near the canadian border

he was in the yard playing cards with

one of the biggest

baddest and ugliest guy in the whole

facility

after the guy winning three times in the

row our guy

got up built his courage look the guy

straight in the eye and say

you are snitching

at that point the whole yard went quiet

the whole yard went quiet everybody was

looking forward to what was going to

happen next

what happened next use your imagination

that night my neighbor

laughing explained to me that i had used

the wrong word to describe what the man

was doing

i say snitching i meant cheating

point on my story language matters

[Applause]

more to the point language can affect

your health

so let’s talk about

the word rehabilitation it’s a very

important word in the quest for social

justice

in the mid-1970s men

in prison at sensing went to sleep

prisoners

in a prison and woke up emazed at a

correctional facility

in the same breath prison guards show up

to work that morning

and discover that they were now

correctional officers

what happened well politicians and

activists

came to the mutual understanding that

language matters

especially in regards to the criminal

justice system

language matters during my first

interview with my correctional counselor

26 years ago she said to me

tu tienes que ser rehabilitado in

spanish

which means you need to be rehabilitated

what she meant was that i needed to get

to learn the language number one

to get an education to get a vocational

and to get a job

none which i had before

very intriguing this world

rehabilitation so let us talk about the

word rehabilitation

the common definition of the word

rehabilitation

is to be restored to health or useful

life

through therapy or education the root of

the word rehabilitation

is the word rehabilitated

which means to be restored to their

original form

something magical happened in the last

20 years

in corrections guys thanks to hustling

bard and the new york logical seminary

are able to obtain the higher education

now they are questioning life they are

questioning language and they don’t feel

comfortable with the word rehabilitation

you might wonder why well they have

developed three issues with the word

rehabilitation

number one the word rehabilitation

presupposes

that the individual already have been

habilitated

however they argued that they had never

been taught how to be

a good son a good brother a good

member of the community and more

important a good member or our society

the second issue that they have with the

word is the

the words implies that they want to be

restored to the original form

but this men are imprisoned they don’t

want to be restored to the original form

because the original form led them to

prison

they want to do better

so the third issue that they have is the

the word

rehabilitation sort of connotes

a medical term that you sick

that you’re broken and i’m here today to

say if

you have been told that you need to be

rehabilitated you’re not sick you’re not

broken

you’re just unable to cope that is hope

so let us examine the word

rehabilitation

that’s another word that we can utilize

that provides

hope meaning pride to the process

and this word is habilitation

habilitation is defined as the

acquisition of skills

it provides pride to the whole process

of betting

yourself habilitation implies that you

are

we are worthy individuals capable of

personal development

capable of change

the word habilitation is a process in

this process many guys are in the

wilderness

what is the wilderness the wilderness

represents the sense of

not living to your full potential the

wilderness represents this

inner emptiness when you know you can do

better

there’s nothing strange about the

wilderness we all experience the

wilderness at one point or another

it’s just that some people can’t get out

of the wilderness

they spend more than 40 years wondering

now the wilderness is part of the human

condition

it’s part of the journey towards the

promised land and what is the promised

land the promised land

is your ideal self is being the best

you that you can be

let that sink right it’s like sharing

your past

sharing everything bad and being the

best you that you can be

amen now that’s the process

how we get there how you know that when

you need to be habilitated

well you need to be habilitated when

you’re not happy with your life

that’s the bottom line when you feel

broken and

let me tell you unless you have been hit

by a bus you’re not broken

you’re just in need of learning coping

skills to deal with life

did that make sense let nobody tell you

that you are

useless that you’re broken did you

brokenness overwhelm me

no there is hope if you are alive

there is hope hope to do better and to

be better

so now my second part of the talk is to

talk about personal development

so i’m going to introduce you to a

concept for personal development called

the six accounts we all familiar

with especially mr four in the audience

with

saving and checking accounts

what we do with them most of the time

we deposit money

in the six accounts we don’t deposit

money with deposit

goals what is a goal a friend of mine

told me last night a goal

is a dream with steps

that sounds wonderful a dream with steps

so what we do is that we deposit goals

into these accounts so now the six

accounts

divide your life into six parts the

spiritual

the relationship the mind the body

community and the material account

they’re all important

but the point is that you have to pay

attention to your accounts

in order to live a full life if you

focus too much on your work

and you neglect your family that’s on

balance you suffer

if you don’t focus on your spiritual

life and you don’t focus on your mind

but you focus on your body your life

suffers

so the point is to have balance and

through this process you’re able to

experience something

wonderful which is personal development

you become better

for example if i had an issue with my

brother

i acknowledge that relationship and at

the past it goes into that relationship

recently

i had a situation in which one of my

friends ate the last jelly donut

so it was an issue right and uh

we didn’t spoke for a couple of weeks

he said jayla donuts he would have been

a chocolate maybe but at jayla’s donut

in my account i already have it set up

that

we’re gonna meet up again and i’m gonna

bring a jelly doughnut to the

meeting so the point is that you work on

your relationships at the same time that

i work on my school

on the same time that i work on helping

somebody else i work on my relationships

around me

at the time of my arrest in 1994

i was broken i was responsible for the

loss of a human life

a man doing his job even though i didn’t

pull the trigger i’m just as responsible

at the man who did

the realization made me feel at a time

broken

and it’s hard to lift feeling broken

remorse and regret can be very

destructive

it can paint your life in a certain way

that you don’t see

the future however that same feeling can

be utilized

to motivate you to do better to be

better

i was very lonely until i started seeing

the guy to my left

and to my right as human beings worthy

of love and friendship

that changed that was a paradigm change

i saw the life i saw my life in a

different view

and i discovered purpose so

in conclusion number one i invite

everybody here to use a better word to

describe

personal development instead of

rehabilitation

let us use habilitation we’re gonna

habilitate people to be

do better be better to be a better

father to be a better brother

to be a better member of our community

there’s a connection

if you self-center and you don’t

acknowledge your connection to our

community

this is a problem you will never find

happiness because there’s no connection

with the world so that’s number one

number two be careful when you say

snitching

okay that make it three there

personal development is possible even if

you’ve been told that you’re no good

you’re broken that you know it is

possible

i am i have witnessed the power of

personal development at the time of my

arrest i couldn’t even speak english

and he had no education through my

incarceration

and through the help of wonderful people

in uniform and without

well they also have unicorn green so

i had obtained the help that i need for

personal development

now i earn my ged

i have associate degree a bachelor’s

degree and master’s degree

thank you

but just like sean pica and many other

men that are mingling in the room

i discovered that education alone don’t

make me a better person

what i do without education is that make

the difference

and right now each man who is around me

and in society need my help as a member

of the community

i’m part of the whole my name is javier

miranda and i thank you for your time