Speaking Engagements

I have to admit it’s been hard to adjust to the post-invasion. I find myself not knowing what to do with myself with a lack of stimulation and new things. In a year full of new things every day I’m now in a familiar place. The greatest thing to mix all of that up has been a couple dozen speaking engagements.

From elementary kids to college students I have been able to share my experience with hundreds of people in the last couple weeks (thousands of people when including the dozen or more speaking engagements I had at the beginning of the trip). It gives me a chance to live my trip all over again and continue that amazing feeling and get those great reactions from people. It’s comforting to make a group of students laugh once or twice, but a real treat when I can get them to laugh several times during a talk. More than anything else it has given me a voice and a path to be a role model.

From kids asking for an autograph to college students asking where the hottest girls are in the question, you never know what’s going to come out of it. I suppose this is training for being Professor Bugsy someday down the road. But if I can inspire just one person to do something amazing, to follow a dream, or to have the courage for something they’ve always wanted to do, then it was worth every minute. There has been nothing more rewarding on this trip to have people come up to me and say, “I just want to shake your hand”. I haven’t turned down one speaking engagement and I am looking forward to many more.

The measure of success from this trip is not how many newspaper articles, how much web traffic, or how many photos of stories. The true success of the trip comes from being able to influence and inspire a room of open ears whose futures are wide open.