Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
my life is shaped by a lot of events, but the most powerful powerful was
somebody doing this kinda acts for my family, when I was 11 years old
we had a really really tough Thanksgiving where there was no money
and no food and
we wouldn't have starved, we always find a way to get something
but we weren't gonna have a Thanksgiving dinner that's for sure certainly not a feast of any sort
and my mom and dad at the time
were fighting like cats and dogs and
saying things that once you say them you can never take them back
you know what kinda stuff I'm talking about and my mom was screaming
at my father about how he couldn't even take car of his own family
it was horrible, and i have a younger brother a younger sister, i'm the oldest
so i was trying to keep them from hearing this conversation
and then a miracle happend, *** on the door, i'm the oldest, they were screaming
so I go answer and i answered the door, and i answered the door and standing there
this giant man an I was just a little boy and he's holding this huge box of food
and beside him on the ground was a black pot with an uncooked turkey in it
and he said is your father home
I said just one moment I was like
unbelievably euphoric and i thought this is a gift from god this is gonna change it all
this is gonna make my mom and dad happy, it's gonna be unbelievable
so i go and my father is screaming and my mother through a closed-door
to the bedroom door and i said dad dad there's a guy at the door, he said, you anwer the door
i said i did but he's got to see you
i kinda teased him, i said you gotta come, he said Fine,he made a last yell at her
and he walks to the door, i'm waiting there just
can't wait to see his face and my dad opens the door and this man was standing there with
this big box of food
and my father did not get happy he look to this man
he raised his voice to him and he said "look we don't take charity"
and he took the door and slam it at the man's face but the man was a good size
man he put his foot there
and smacked his foot down and said, sir, sir, this is not charity
everybody has tough times, somebody knows you're having a tough time
they want you to have a magical Thanksgiving I'm as the delivery guy
he said please take and my father said "we don't take charity"
and slam it again, this time the guy put his shoulder against it so he couldn't do it
my father stares at him, it's like this two men started to get this intense mode
and he was just trying to give a gift but I'm freaking and then the guy said something that
I'll never forget
moment I wish he haven't said but he found a way to
force my father, he's holding this thing, than he looked at me
then he looked to my dad and he said don't make your family suffer because of your ego
now my dad's level of energy increased
but he was also trapped you get it
so he took the food slammed it on the table and slammed the door at the man's face
without even thanking him
i didn't know what to do, a part of me wanted to cry a part of me was
crushed and i watch my father storm off
and went on back to screaming at my mother. i remember that day just thinking, you know
i don't understand and years
and years later I began to understand a little bit what I began to understand is
that you look at a person's life is like
there's so much in life you could be joyous about like i wanted a smile you know what i mean
even now I can remember it
I wanted a smile about this great gift but now I couldn't even smile
because it'll make him angry
and then i thought, you know, after years, I figured that out our whole life is shaped by decisions,
that's what we talked about today right
but there's three decisions you make every moment you're alive
and the way you make these three decisions shapes your destiny
first decision we're all making every moment is what are you gonna focus on
what are you gonna focus on and I realized that my father's life and my life ended up
very different because we made
that day three decisions very differently he decided to focus on the
fact that he has not fed his family and the second quetion you gotta decide
every moment you're alive, including this moment, what are you gonna focus on, second
question as you're focusing
what does this mean what does it mean
the bottom line on meaning is
if you think about it, you get to make up the meaning, and most people pick the worst one, don't they ?
that day my father decided to focus on the fact that he hasn't fed his family and I know
what meaning he gave because he said it out loud over and over again
because he was worthless because he had not taken care of his family
and the final most important decision you make every moment you're alive
what am I gonna do ? what am I gonna do ?
and i'll tell you what he decided to do he decided to leave our family
shortly thereafter, which at the time was
it was the worst experience of my life
it was the most crushing experience I fell, it has been so many years now I don't
have the same feelings
part of it is that three years ago he passed away
but at the time I knew no greater pain my family knew no greater pain
i couldn't understand why would he leave, I love him so much
my life turned out very different than him, I was the only one to go to his funeral
no one else of the family would go
nobody wanna be part of it, he died alone of a disease called
connective tissue disorder I can tell you right before his death he got the lesson
because he looked at me and said " son, i was a bastered
I didn't connect with anybody and look what i'm dying of
it's unbelievable, so that same day I've made 3 diffrent decicions, I decide to focus on the fact that
there was food what a concept
i like that, but what change my life was the meaning I gave it. i decided that day
that what this means
is that strangers care
and if strangers care about me and my family I decided I was gonna care
care about strangers
and that completly changed my life I promised myself
someday, i'll do well enough to do this for other families like it was done for me
I didn't wait till I was, you known, wealthy to do it
I did my first one when I was seventeen, i remember i was 17
i had my own car, i had some moeny and i decided to go on the greatest shopping of my life
at that point
i decided i was gonna shop for two families for Thanksgiving I was gonna do
what it was done for me so many years before
it was the most euphoric experience I took two baskets
I went to the manager of the place I told him what i was gonna do
I said I want you to give me a discount i want you to be my partner
he gave me 10%, cheap *** !
right but was so cool I got two of everything right because I wanted to give
food for 2 family for 2-3 days and to have an
unbelievable feast then I called this church
in the barrio area and I said listen I wanna go take care of some families that
are too proud to come to the church and get food
so they might suffer, so can you recommend some families ? they gave me two families
so then I wrote a note because I thought you know what
i'm gonna put an old jeans and a t-shirt and i'm gonna deliver this, i'm not gonna get the acknowledgement
but I do wanna see their faces, right, so i'll go as the delivery boy which is easy i look like one
but I wrote this note, i did't want them to get upset like my father did
so I wrote this note and i said " this is a gift from a friend
please know that you're loved I want you to have an extraordinary thanksgiving you deserve it
please accept this gift and I put under it, I said
if you can Someday do well enough to do this for one other family
and pass on the gift then i put, love, a friend then I realize I was going to an area
that was more Latino and I don't speak Spanish so t thought
I got a friend to write on the back in Spanish so I can flip it around if there was a challenge
so I got on my buddy's old van and put all the groceries in
and I drove to this house had
it was not what I expected it was more I got this house and I got
two bags of groceries, i banged on the door, door opens and this woman about this tall
stares up at me like this right
and I said hi and it was very obvious she didn't speak any English she
screams when she saw all this food
and by the way this woman had five children and husband what I didn't know
is that the hasband left her three days before
with no money no food and five kids
so i got theses bags, so she's screaming she grabbed me, start pulling my neck and kissing me
I said no no no no
i said, i'm the delivery boy, delivery boy and I was ... she didn't understand a word i was saying
so reached in my pocket, i gave her the note
flipped it over she read it in Spanish and she started to bawl
then she strated Kissing me again, i said no no I the delivery boy
you know, i'm ... trying to show her, she was gift from from God gift from God
then I'm trying not to bawl, so i'm like, you know, where do I put this
and I'm doing everything to hold it together, i'm smiling but i wanna cry
and she just pointed, it wasn't a big house it was like room, so i went over, i put the stuff on
and just i was trying to put the stuff on i hear these screams and all of a sudden
BAM, BAM, 2 boys hit me, one leg and the other
these 2 little guys just tack on me, right, when they saw the food they went crazy
when they saw the pumpkin pie it was over
so i said come out with me come out with me, so they came out
we kept bringing these groceries & I'm telling you
it was like, i don't know how to describe it I was like the most euphoric
fun, passionate, loving, it was like they were my little brothers, you know
We brough all the stuff in, and they were all laughing, they lit up
and then I've done it all, it was time to go and I didn't wanna, they didn't want me to go
this one little boy wouldn't let go of my leg and looking up to me, hugging me
but i had to go make the other delivery
so I turn to this woman, i said i gotta go you know
then she said okay whatever her language was, but i understood it was okay, right
so I wanted to leave, than she grabbed my arm
and she strated having tears on her eyes
and I said, I wanted to say "happy Thanksgiving" but I didn't know spanish, so i went
felitze lavidad
i figured i was close and she started ... she went from crying to laughing, right !
and then she grabbed me and gave me this big hug and the kids were giving me these hugs
i got out, walked off, they were staying on the porch
I got in this old van, and drove it out and as i was turning around
i looked at the rear view mirror
and i was feeling all this emotion building up in my body
I looked in the mirror and I saw mama
standing on the porch with her kids, all the kids smiled mama standing there
crying hysterically and smiling from ear to ear
and I couldn't keep it together, i just ...
I was right there, i stopped to the in the street i started bawling uncontrollably
i was just thinking, you know, this is a beautiful thing, you know, why is this making me cry ?
it's a great thing, why am I so emotional about this ?
and then I got it, I realized in that moment
that the worst day of my life, my father leaving
had actually been the best day of my life
because id I hadn't had this experience I wouldn't be here today
and now because of that, i get to live this life
I have the desire, the drive and the want
to give this way, and i've really realized
that the worse day was the best day, that was God's gift
the gift wouldn't been there, if he would of stayed
there's an old country song that says thank God for on answered prayers
this is a story about this man who wants his prayers
find out later on it wasn't fullfilled, right
so I tell you the the story
for a couple reasons, one is if you want to change your life
figure out how you worst day was your best day it'll change everything
because it is if you look for it, if you find a deeper meaning, it is.
you know, there's something in you that wouldn't be there without it
the second reason is because i want to recruit your soul
not for your money or your business
I want to recruit you in this action of going and making a difference, I want to
recruit you for you, because I know if you go do a few of these things
you'll get hooked and you'll make it a ritual that changes your life
you know, whatever things you do in your life, this is what it's really about
and, you know, it won't be long before it'll be Thanksgiving here
we still do this here, you know, I started out the first year, i fed 2 families
and the next year i fed 04, i wanna double it
next year i did 08 which was a lot of work, and i didn't tell anybody what i was doing
because I wasn't doing it for acknowledgement, i was doing it because is was right
but after a while, i thought, i could use some help
so i got my friends together and said you know what instead of having turkey
let's give thanks, let's go build baskets with food great stuff, let's deliver it to people
then, we'll come in, have a big dinner we'll talk about what we're grateful for and have our dinner
so we did it and it became a ritual and it grew and I built some companies
and all my employees got involved and then about 14, 15 years ago
i started my foundation, and last year we fed over a million people now
in nine countries around the world
you know, on Christmas and Thanksgiving it has been a pretty amazing experience, right
thank you, thank you thank
so I thank you for your applause
I wasn't telling you for that reason I want to recruit you, you can give your money
but I'd much prefer you just go deliver the food because I'll tell you what what's great
you'll be changed by that, it's easy to give money
but we enter en environment you give, you don't give to give, you go as the delivery in person
but you're really the one that made it it'll change your life
it'll change your life