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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2017-09-06
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYZ3uIscT80
I would like to hear the lyrics song that I wrote a few years ago it is a song that I would have loved to sing so this young man if I had the I if I could take a little trip back in time talk to myself when I was about eight or nine my Daddy is long gone replaced by a man who does not care emotional
baggage is full much more than a child should bear I would tell myself it will be all alright I know that you are hurting and the pain it runs deep you are in the dark and you cannot see all I ask is that you put your trust in me and in these words please believe I promise it will be all alright statistically speaking there are many
reasons why I am not supposed to be on this stays that said there are many more reasons that the steps to not account for that on this stage in front of you today and this moment is exactly where I should be when I was about twelve years old my mother made the decision that I said move and live with my grandmother my mother and my father
were married for about a year before divorcing marking the end of his presence in my life my mother then remarried a man who would become my brother and sisters father my stepfather and I never really had a good relationship in fact that relationship became so toxic that it made my mother choose that it was on my best interests to go live with my grandmother it was
while living with my grandmother that I began writing started to write down my thoughts and feelings and some people call them poems but for me writing was just a release of the pain and sadness the frustration and confusion that I was feeling at the time one day I took one of the so called poems too and my parents and asked her to read she did and
due to the circumstances that surrounded my life at the time when I was writing was decently melancholy my aunt curiously asked where is this coming from me being %HESITATION reluctant and like way too cool to talk about feelings right I just said some are all you know that's just me freaking them words you know because I freaking them where's whatever that means %HESITATION I just wanted
you to know that you're a good writer and you should keep writing so I did I became addicted to affirmation I felt good at a time we're feeling good was rare so I continue to write knowing that the more I wrote the more that good feeling I would receive years later now I'm an adult and I decide to start this community service project that would later
become to nurture the creative mind organization the aim of this community service project to help young people see their value giving them the gift that I received so many years ago it starts all make sense why had the experiences that I did and went through the things I did when I was younger I understood what it was like to want to be seen and to feel
valued I also understood what it was like to not be at all but then I understood what it was like to finally be seen and feel valued so how much gonna get these young people to believe in themselves I thought of a few things but I landed on what I know we was gonna freak them words I was gonna use poetry as a way of connecting
to young people helping them see themselves in the value and others each week I work with about twenty young people teaching them poetry studying poetry but in our own way we use song lyrics at the students chose we went over metaphors and dissected analogies and all the other academic tools that form a poem each week their assignment was to write one poem just one and each
week there are multiple students running up to me in approaching me in the hallways in between classes Hey Mister Jackson check it out check our route this poem last night Hey Mister Jackson look out route three poems oh yeah let me check those out okay cool and you know this is dope I like that by the way you use like soccer as a metaphor for life
S. move %HESITATION your good writer you should keep writing it was at this moment I started to understand that my story was not unique but there were so many young people score reaming to be seen I also understood that this community service project was much more than a community service project that I had found my life's purpose helping young people see their value earlier I said
that on this stage is where I belong I believe that to be true but I did not tell you is that when I was asked to be a presenter there were two distinct emotions that I felt fear and doubt I feared that I wouldn't do well or well enough and I doubted whether or not I was even where the but someone planted a seed of belief
many many years ago and that seeds grew and that belief became our courage and regardless of how strong the winds of fear and doubt may be I am rooted in my belief if you want to do something meaningful something impactful something that doesn't cost you any money but has an infinite ripple effect can go and give someone the gift of belief thank you
