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