00:00When I was 25 I went to Juilliard right next door. Not a very good experience by
00:07the way. And I remember at one point I felt like I lost my voice as an artist.
00:15I said, who am I really? You know, what am I doing here? You know, how am I gonna be
00:23different from everyone else? So I decided to go on a cultural art safari in
00:28Africa. I made Juilliard pay for it. And I went to the Gambia. And I went to a
00:38compound of the Mandinka tribe. And one day there were these group of women called
00:47Kenyala who came into the compound, Mandinka women. And they were dressed in
00:53oversized clothes. And they had paint on their faces. And they carried drums.
01:02And they were shouting really really loudly and making really funny faces. And they
01:07had calabashes filled with this dish that tasted like peanut flavored oatmeal.
01:17And they just got louder and louder. And they passed the calabash around to everybody in the
01:22compound. And more and more people started yelling and screaming with them to the point
01:29where they were falling over each other. Hundreds of people, children even. And they'd pass the calabash,
01:35plop the food in their mouths, look up to the skies, scream, scream, scream. And they'd sing this song
01:43that translated into, I did not come here for food. My stomach is full. I did not come here for food.
01:51I came for much more than that.
01:55And I was wondering who these women were. And I found out that they were actually women who were infertile.
02:03And in the Gambia, the biggest blessing you could possibly have is to be able to have a child.
02:13And these women felt like the only reason why they weren't blessed with a child
02:18is because God did not hear their wish. And so the whole point of the ritual was to make as much
02:26noise as possible so God could hear them and pour down the blessing.
02:35The beauty of that ritual was that it was actually a ritual, an actual something that they could do
02:44to get what they wanted in their lives. The beauty of that ritual was the participation.
02:50The beauty of that ritual was the people who are surrounding these women who said,
02:57you know what? God didn't hear you, did not see you. And I'm going to make sure that he does. I'm
03:04going to do my part in your life to make sure that he, she hears you. And that is the beauty of
03:14everybody in this room. In the words of Thomas Merton, perhaps we're stronger than we think.
03:21That everybody in this room, I'm sure at some point has gone through something in their lives
03:28and you've survived it. But not only did you survive it, you took that trauma, that hurt,
03:34that revelation or whatever it was, and you used it to connect, to give, to influence,
03:41to help. And that is the beauty and the purpose of what we are here on this earth to do.
03:54So for me, I lift the glass to everyone in this room. Everyone who has decided to live a life bigger
04:03than yourself. Everyone who decided to slay those dragons and say, it's not just about me.
04:12And I applaud you. And I am honored to be in this room with you. Thank you.
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