[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, hey, grow squad, how you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope that you're doing well?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hope that you're having a wonderful, wonderful week?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope that you're safe.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's pretty, I wanna talk to you for a minute.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, thank you for the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give us insight and not just information.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, a couple weeks ago, I was not amazed or stunned or surprised,
[SPEAKER_00]: But got the news, of course, as we all did, that Jesse Jackson had passed away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's interesting because, you know, as newer generations, as generations, you know, move on and move ahead and new leaders arise, which is nothing wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the cycle of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we forget leaders from back in the day, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: little town Louisiana where we didn't see a whole lot of people that look like me on television or doing things that for us were like out of this world, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, of course, we celebrate, you know, when different individuals rise to the occasion and they defeat the odds
[SPEAKER_00]: they could come through when they do something that is, you know, just just abnormal, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And when Jesse Jackson ran for president, oh, it's a little boy, all right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, twice the first time was the younger than the second time, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that, as they were playing and replaying some of his famous talks and speeches, excuse me, one thing that I kept hearing through social media, through clips that were being played in different places, his mantra, his two main mantras that have always stuck with
[SPEAKER_00]: And number two, he would always say, keep hope alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for a man who was born in Greenville, South Carolina, moved to Chicago when really it came into prominence with his different grassroots movements.
[SPEAKER_00]: For him to keep that mindset through defeat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Realizing I am somebody and I may be talking to you right now and today we just we're just going to talk because in life You and I'll always up against something And if one thing about life is sometimes we'll up against stuff that people don't even know They don't have no clue that we're up against something.
[SPEAKER_00]: We they have no clue what we're up against because we know how to wear it well Like growing up as a kid you never know your mother had money problems unless you tell you
[SPEAKER_00]: You never knew Grandma was having money problems.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unless you told you, sometimes when the lights were off and they were a lot of candle and the house you thought was just a special evening.
[SPEAKER_00]: You ain't no lights were off.
[SPEAKER_00]: And something but just wear it well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then this time, in which we're living in, in different things are happening all around us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna echo what Jesse Jackson said.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to encourage you to remind yourself every single day that I am somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you may be in relationships where the other person is not treating you the way you should be treated.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remind yourself I am somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: You may be a child in the home where you're not celebrated, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: told that you are going to be this, that are the other.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not encouraged to do well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, remember on yourself, every single day I am somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, just as you're actually being a Baptist minister.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, I was drawn to his presence, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: His command of the desk, the microphone, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: As I'm on his microphone now, I'm reflecting back just on on on how not even eloquent, just how how in command and how sure he was, how confident he was of the message that he was relating and every day I want to remind yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when you work on your house, your apartment, wherever you reside, as you face the world that's in front of you, whether it be working for yourself, whether it be trying to market yourself, whether it be working at a company, whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got to have the utmost confidence to be successful in the world in which we live right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so remind yourself of your value, of your importance, and of the humbling reality that you are somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, even when you're down on hope, try your best to keep hope alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, how do you keep hope alive when there is no hope?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because one of the things I did growing up, you know, when we would be faced with challenging times.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I'm not sitting at trading warstores with somebody saying that we were worse off than somebody else.
[SPEAKER_00]: When times were challenging for my context, the way that I would keep hope alive, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: In my heart, in my mind, I would think about our brighter day ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes, no matter where you listen to this podcast from, I had a brother shout out to me the other day and told me that he heard my podcast behind bars, man, shout out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shout out, man, you just never know what place or position people might be in when they come across a message that you have for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So wherever you are, keep hope alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remind yourself that that that what you're going through right now, in fact, there's a scripture that I always remind myself of and that is that weeping may endure for a night with joy comes in the morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was that imagery still does for me, which reminds me of the reality that hey, even though I may cry myself to sleep, even though stuff may not be as great as I desire it to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sun's gonna rise in the morning, and I'll have another shot and another chance, another opportunity to take another stab at whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's in front of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, this is not an episode or an epilogue about Jesse Jackson per se, but as clips were being played of his life.
[SPEAKER_00]: clips were being played of his story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it was just a Jackson Perfect there, some people who are like, man, Jackson's action supported this, that or the other.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to place none of my life where even if somebody doesn't support something, or support something that I don't support, that doesn't mean that I cannot point out the great things about their life, about their journey, and about their story.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would encourage you if you stuck on that, I would encourage you to take your maturity to another level, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because all of us, even your superheroes aren't perfect, even people that you think are...
[SPEAKER_00]: squeaky clean.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's squeaky clean.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you still love the great things about them.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's funny things about I would people would often talk about how great Michael Jordan was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, if you were ever in a room where people were trash talking about who the greatest was or Michael Jordan's game versus Isaiah Thomas or Homer, people would always try to bring up Michael Jordan's personal life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, man,
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't diminish the fact that he dropped 60 on your head.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that he was gambling two nights before in Las Vegas.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, people would love to bring up different things about his life, by the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: But those two sentiments.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me say this while I'm here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we're human.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you right now, you've been done wrong by someone, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone may have crossed you so I may have said something or done something or maybe someone you looked up to Had a misstep in life We got learn how to forgive people We got to learn how to remember that one bad chapter ain't the whole book We got to understand that hey Just because somebody had a misstep doesn't mean because we're human right That's not the whole story
[SPEAKER_00]: and that's not the end of the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: So those two things, I've made many other things, those two phrases stick with me today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanna share them with you once again before I get out of your way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remind yourself every day, I'm somebody.
[SPEAKER_00]: And do everything you can.
[SPEAKER_00]: even in situations seem hopeless.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even when your own story seems hopeless.
[SPEAKER_00]: Keep hope alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of that you know needs to be encouraged with this short message.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of that you know, some of that you are in community with some of that's in your family.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd like this message because that helps the algorithm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Subscribe that helps YouTube and other viewers know that there's something happening that they need to be a part of and also if you would share this message.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise you somebody can benefit from this and they may help them have a brighter tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you again for tuning in today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for being part of the growth squad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your attention to this message.
[SPEAKER_00]: And please don't forget to share it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: This week, last but not least, whatever you go through, make sure you're going, you're growing, and you're glowing every single day.
[SPEAKER_00]: See you next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take care.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peace.