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