The wisest person I ever met in my life, a third-grade dropout. Why is this, a dropout in the same sentence as 'rather oxymoronic'? Like 'jumbo shrimp'. Mm-hmm. And it's not oxymoronic for me to say 'third grade' and 'dropout'.

That third-grade dropout, the wisest person I ever met in my life, who taught me to combine knowledge and wisdom to make an impact, was my father, a simple cook. Why is this man, one of the men of my life, just a simple cook? Left school in the third grade to help out on the family farm.

But just because he left school doesn't mean his education stopped. Mark Twain once said, 'I've never allowed my schooling to get in the way of my education.' My father taught himself how to read, taught himself how to write. Decided in the midst of Jim Crow-ism, as America was breathing the last gasp of the Civil War,

My father decided he was going to stand and be a man. Not a black man, not a brown man, not a white man, but a man. He literally challenged himself to be the best that he could all the days of his life. A third-grade dropout, daddy, who was quoting Michelangelo, saying to us boys, 'I won't have a problem if you aim high and miss,

but I'm gonna have a real issue if you aim low and hit.' A country mother quoting Henry Ford, saying, 'If you think you can or if you think you can't, you're right.' I learned that from a third-grade dropout. Simple lessons, lessons like these, son.

You'd rather be an hour early than a minute late. We never knew what time it was at my house because the clocks were always ahead. My mother said for nearly 30 years, my father left the house at 3:45 in the morning, one day

She asked him, "Why, Daddy?" He said, "Maybe one of my boys will catch me in the act of excellence. I want to share two things with you. Aristotle said, "You are what you repeatedly do." Therefore, excellence is being a habit, not an act."

Don't ever forget that I know you're tough. But always remember to be... I always... Don't ever forget that. Never embarrass Mama. Mm-hmm. Yeah, if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. If Daddy ain't happy, don't nobody care. But you know I'm telling you...

Next lesson. Lesson from a cook over there in the galley. Son, make sure your servant's towel is bigger than your ego. Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity. Y'all might have a relative in mind you want to send that to. Let me say it again.

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity. Pride is the burden of a foolish person. John Wooden, coach of basketball at UCLA for a living, but his calling was to impact people. And with all those national championships, guess what he was found doing in the middle of the week going into the cupboard?

Grabbing a broom and sweeping his own gym floor. You want to make an impact, find your broom every day of your life. You find your broom, you grow your influence that way. That way you're attracting people so that you can impact them.

Final lesson, son. You're gonna do a job, do it right. I've always been told how average I can be, always been criticized about being average. But I want to tell you something. I stand here before you, before all of these people, not listening to those words.

But telling myself every single day to shoot for the stars, to be the best that I can be, good enough isn't good enough if it can be better, and better isn't good enough if it can be best. Let me close with a very personal story that I think will bring all this into focus.

Wisdom will come to you in the unlikeliest of sources, a lot of times through failure. When you hit rock-bottom, remember this: while you're struggling, rock-bottom can also be a great foundation on which to build and on which to grow. I'm not worried that you'll be successful. I'm worried that you won't fail from time to time.

The person that gets up off the canvas and keeps growing, that's the person that will continue to grow their influence. Back in the 70s, to help me make this point, let me introduce you to someone. I met the finest woman I'd ever met in my life.

Mm-hmm. Back in my day, we had a call, there, a brick house. This woman was the finest woman I'd ever seen in my life. There's just one little problem: back then, ladies didn't like big old linemen. The blindside hadn't come out yet.

They liked quarterbacks and running backs. Breathless dance, and I find out her name is Trina Williams from Lompoc, California, and and we were all dancing, and we're just just excited, and I decided in the middle of dancing with her that I would ask her for a phone number.

She, Katrina, was the first one. Trina was the only woman in college who gave me her real telephone number. The next day we walked to Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor. My friends couldn't believe it. This has been 40 years ago, and my friend still can't believe it.

we go on a second date and a third date and a fourth date mm-hmm We drive from Chico to Vallejo so that she could meet my parents my father meets her my daddy My hero, he meets her pulls me to the side and says is she psycho, but anyway

We go together for a year two years three years four years by now Trina's a senior in college I'm still a freshman, but I'm working some things out I'm so glad I graduated in four years Nixon Ford Carter Reagan So now it's time to propose so I talked to her girlfriends, and it's California

It's in the 70s So it has to be outside have to have a candle and you have to have you know some chocolate listen I'm from the hood had a bottle of Boone's Farm wine that's what I had She said yes that

Was the key I married the most beautiful woman I've ever seen him I y'all ever been to a wedding and even before the wedding starts you hear this how in the world? And it was coming from my side of the family We get married we have a few children our lives are great

One day Trina finds a lump in her left breast breast cancer Six years after that diagnosis me and my two little boys walked up to mommy's casket and For two years my heart didn't beat It wasn't for my faith in God. I wouldn't be standing here today. If it wasn't for those two little boys

There'd have been no reason for which to go on I was completely lost That was rock bottom You know what sustained me? the wisdom of a third grade dropout the wisdom of a simple cook At the casket I'd never seen my dad cry

But this time I saw my dad cry, that was his daughter, Trina. Was his daughter, not his daughter-in-law. And I'm right behind my father, about to see her for the last time on this earth. And my father shared three words with me to change my life right there at the casket.

It would be the last lesson he would ever teach me. He said, "Son, just stand. You keep standing. You keep spitting, no matter how rough the sea, you keep standing." And I'm not talking about just water. You keep standing. No matter what, you don't give up. And as clearly as I'm talking to you today...

These were some of her last words to me. She looked me in the eye and she said, "It doesn't matter to me any longer how long I live, what matters to me most is how I live." A shawl, one question, a question that I was asked all my life by a third grade dropout.

How you live in? How you live in everyday, ask yourself that question. How you live in? Here's, here's what a cook would suggest you to live this way, that you would not judge. That you would show up early, that you'd be kind. That you'd make sure that that servant's town...

is huge and used that if you're gonna do something, you do it the right way. That, that, that cook would tell you this, that it's never wrong to do the right thing. That how you do anything is how you do everything. And in that way, you will grow your influence to make an impact. In that way, you will honor all those who have gone before.

You who have invested in you. It is with great honor. Did I say all your life? Look in those unlikeliest places for wisdom. Enhance your life every day by seeking that wisdom and asking yourself every night, "We got enriched." Lisa shot.

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