My mom wanted me be a truck driver because that would mean I'd make $24,000
a year if I went to truck masters and I'll be twice with my father made and
she thought that what happened but something inside of me said I don't want
to drive a truck there's something else that matters more to me and I decided I
was not gonna go for money instead of passion and the rewards been pretty
amazingly better than being truck drivers not bad being a truck driver is
just not what I was after pana I look back and one of the things
that helped me was my original teacher Jim Rohn whose personal vault and
speaker I went to here when I was 17 he said some of the first time I heard him
he said you know it's really simple if you want life to change it you got to
change if you want life to be better you've got to get better it's the only
way it happens and luckily off up four people and to
leave them but if you're constantly improving who you are and what you give
game over my life is shaped by a lot of events
where the most powerful was somebody doing these kind 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 would have starved they always found a way to
get something but we weren't gonna have a Thanksgiving dinner enough for sure
certainly not a feast of any sort and now my mom and dad at the time were
fighting like cats and dogs and saying things that once you say them you could
never take him back you know kind of stuff I'm talking about and my mom was
scream and father about how he couldn't even take care of his own family and it
was horrible I have a younger brother and younger sister I'm the oldest so I
was trying to keep them from hearing this conversation and then a miracle and
bang on the door I'm the oldest they're screaming so I go answer the door and I
answer the door and standing there is this giant man I was his little boy and
he's holding this huge box of food and beside him on the ground was a black pop
with an uncooked turkey in it and he said is your father home and I said just
one moment I was like unbelievably a foreign about
this is a gift from God this is gonna change it all this could make my mom and
dad happy it's amiably more so I call my father is screaming at my mother through
a closed door to the bedroom door and I said dad dad there's got the tortillas
full you answer the door I said I did he's gotta see you I kind of teased dad
you kind of come so he said fine he made one last yell at her and he walks to the
door and I'm waiting they're chefs can't waiting to see his face and my dad opens
the door on his man standing there with his big box of food and my father did
not get happy he looked at this man and he raised this voice too when he said
look we don't take charity and then he took the door to slam it in the man's
face but the man was a good-sized man he put his foot there and smacked his foot
down back home he said sir sir this is not charity everybody else tough times
somebody knows you're having a tough time and they want you to have a magical
Thanksgiving I'm just the delivery guy he said please take this a my father
said we don't take charity went to slam it again and this time the guy put his
shoulder against it so he couldn't do it and a my father steer him it's like he's
two males starting to get this intense mode and one just trying to give a gift
and I'm freaking and then the guy said something that I'll never forget the
moments I wish he having said but he found a way to force my father he's hold
this thing he looked at me and then he looked at 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 our table and slam the door in the man's face and
every Bank
and I am know what to do part of me wanted to cry part of me was crushed and
I watched my father storm off and went on back to scream that my mother and 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 think I understand is that you
look at a person's life and it's like so much life you can be joyous about like I
wanted to smile you know I mean even now I can remember it
I wanted to smile about this great gift but now I couldn't even smile cuz you're
making me angry and then I thought you know years I figured out it our whole
life is shaped by decisions that's we've talked about today right but there's
three decisions you're making 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 would even a 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 question you gotta decide
every moment you're alive including this moment what are you gonna focus on
second question has as you're focusing on what does this mean what does it mean
and 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 pay that
day my father started to focus Levac he hadn't fed his family and I know what
meaning he gave because he said it out loud over and over again that he was
worthless because he had not taken care of his family and then 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 we decided to do he decided to leave our family
Sharleen thereafter which at the time was it was the worst experience of my
life it was the most crushing experience I felt it's been so many years now I
don't have the same feelings and part of it as three years ago he passed away but
at the time I knew no greater pain my family didn't know greater pain I
couldn't understand why I would leave I loved him so much and my wife turned out
very different than him I was the only one to go to his funeral no one else in
the family would go nobody want to be part of it he died alone of a disease
called connective tissue disorder and I can tell you right before his death he
got the lesson cuz he looked at me he said son he said I was a bastard I
didn't connect with anybody I'm hoping I'm dying of it's unbelievable so that
same day I made three decisions I decided to focus on the fact there was
food what a concept I like that but what changed 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 what I was gonna do is I was
gonna care about strangers and that completely changed my life I promised
myself someday I do well enough to do this for other families I was done for
me and I didn't wait till I was you know wealthy to do it I did my first one when
I seventeen I remembered our seventeen I had my own car I had some money and I
decided go on the greatest shopping spree of my life at that point I thought
I was gonna go shop for two families for Thanksgiving and I was gonna go do for
families 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 I was gonna do and I said I want you to give me a
discount you be my partner give me 10% cheap bastard
that but it was so cool I got two of everything right because I want to give
enough food for a family for two three days and have an unbelievable feast then
I called this church in the barrio area and I said listen I want to go take care
of some families that are too proud to come to the church and get food so they
might suffer can you recommend some families and they gave me two families
so then I wrote a note because I thought you know what I'm gonna put on old jeans
and a t-shirt and I'm gonna deliver this I'm not going to get the acknowledgement
but I do want to see their faces right so all go is the delivery boy which is
easy I look like one and but I wrote this note and I wrote I kind of wanted
to get upset like my father did so herethis 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 then I put under it I said if you can someday do well enough to do this
for one other family and that's on the gift and but love a friend and then I
realized I was going to an area that was more Latino and I don't speak Spanish I
thought I got a friend who write on the back and Spanish so I could flip it
around of those challenge so I got one of my buddies old man's there's any
little room put all the groceries in it and I drove to this house and it was not
what I expected it was more I got to this house and I got two bags of
groceries and I banged on the door door opened and this woman about this tall it
stares up at me like this right and I said hi and it was very obvious she was
speaking English and she let out a scream when she saw the food and by the
way this woman had five children and a husband what I didn't know is the
husband had left her three days before with no money no food and five kids so I
got these back so she screamed she grabbed me circumpolar my neck and like
kissing right and I said no phone call I said the delivery boy delivery boy and I
was she'd understand a word I was saying so I reached in the pocket and I gave
her the note flipped it over she got it in Spanish
and they she started a ball so then she came to start kissing me get us no no
I'm the delivery boy you know you know kind of short she goes no no gift from
God gift from God so I'm trying not to bawl
so I'm like you know where do I put this and I'm doing everything I hold it
together I'm smiling but I want to cry and she just pointed was a big house
it's like a room so I went over and I put the stuff on there and just as I'm
trying to put stuff on there I hear these screams all of a sudden BAM
BAM two boys hit me one leg than the other his two little guys just tack on
me right when they saw it when they saw the food they went crazy when I saw the
pumpkin pie it was over nice to come out with me come out with me and so they
came out we kept bringing these groceries in I'm telling you it was like
I don't have described it was the most before fun passionate loving was like
they're my little brothers in hell that's we brought all stuff in there
laughs and I never lit up and then you know I died it was time to go and I
didn't want to go on pain and vomiting those one little boys wouldn't let go of
my leg and he's kept looking up to me a hug and meals like you know but I had to
go make the other delivery so uh I just won I said you know I gotta go
this is that okay whatever her language was I don't know well mind you it meant
okay right so I went to go leave and then she grabbed my arm and she started
tears in her eyes and I and I said I wanted to say you know Happy
Thanksgiving but I don't know Spanish so I went police Navidad feared it was
close and she started last she went from crying the laughing right and it's a
grab gave me this big hug and the kids giving his hugs and then I got out and I
walked off they were all staying on the porch and I got this little band and I
drove it out into turning around and as I went to turn around I looked in the
rearview mirror and I was feeling all this emotion building in my body and I
looked in the mirror and I saw mama standing in the hood porch with her kids
all the kids my mama sitting there crying hysterically and smiling from ear
to ear and I couldn't keep it together I just I
was right there stopped in the street I started bawling uncontrollably and I
remember just thinking you know this is a beautiful thing you know why is this
making me cry and you know why it's 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 it had actually been the best day of my life because if
I hadn't had that experience I wouldn't be here today
and now because of that I'm get to live this life and I have the desire and the
drive of a a want to give him this way and so I've really realized that the
worst day was the best day and that was God's gift the gift wouldn't been there
he was stayed there's an old country song that says thank God for unanswered
prayers it's a story about this man was his prayer finds out later on it wasn't
fulfilled
so so I tell you I tell you the story for a couple reasons one is so want to
change your life figure out how you're worse today was your best step you'll
change everything because it is if you look for it did you find the deeper
meaning it is you know there's something in you that wouldn't be there without it
and the second reason is because I want to recruit your soul not for your money
or business I want to recruit you in this action of
going making a difference I want to recruit you for you because I know if
you go do a few these things you'll get hooked and you'll make it a ritual and
change 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 and we still do this you know I start off the first year I've had two
families and the next year I fed four I'm gonna double it next year I did
eight which was a lot of work and I didn't tell anybody I was doing because
I wasn't doing it for acknowledgement as duties right but after a while I thought
I could use some help so I got my friends together so you know what's that
it's going to have in Turkey let's give thanks let's go build baskets with food
great stuff let's deliver it to people who will come and have a big dinner
we'll talk about we're grateful for and have our dinner and so we did it and I
became a rich one it grew and then I built some companies and all my
employees got involved and then about 14 15 years ago I started my foundation the
last year we fed over a million people now in nine countries around the world
now on Christmas and Thanksgiving they're putting days in experience
thank you thank you thank you thank you so I thank
you for your applause I wasn't telling you for that reason I want to recruit
you and you can give your money but I'd much prefer if you would just go deliver
the food cuz I'll tell you what's great you'll be changed by that it's easy to
give money but we enter an environment you give you don't give us the giver you
go with the delivery person but you're the really the one that made it it'll
absolutely change your life
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