00:00Women rule, but this is great.
00:05I am honored to have had the privilege over the last eight years
00:08to participate in some of these ceremonies, to get to know some of you
00:11and to see your journeys and obviously to hear the stories
00:15of three remarkable leaders that just presented their lives
00:19in front of all of you, which is not easy, as you know.
00:23Trust me, I was one of those guys in the back of the room,
00:27head down, bowl cut, looked like a little Dutch boy, paint.
00:31It was nasty.
00:33It was a bad situation for me growing up.
00:36And so the idea that I'm even governor is remarkable.
00:40The idea that I'm even able to walk out and stand up in front of a microphone
00:44and talk is extraordinary.
00:47And I say that because I need to say that because I imagine if you're like me,
00:52you're filled with some doubt and anxiety.
00:55Life is not easy.
00:56It's noisy.
01:00It's just noisy.
01:01And you're sitting there scrolling and scrolling and scrolling
01:05and trying to find something.
01:08And it gets further and further away.
01:11You're not going to find belonging.
01:12You're not going to find meaning scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.
01:16An hour goes by.
01:17You're like, oh, God, it's been an hour.
01:20You even realize it.
01:21And it feels like life's just sort of slipping away.
01:25All that anxiety, fear, doubt, self-doubt, all that you've been.
01:28Oh, my gosh.
01:29That's all you've been through with COVID last few years, what you didn't get to celebrate,
01:35what you didn't get to experience.
01:37And so I say all that and share all that because it's remarkable that you're here.
01:44And it says something about each and every one of you that you didn't give in to all that stress.
01:50You didn't give in all that fear and anxiety, that stacking of stress.
01:54You add it up.
01:55It just stacks that heaviness.
01:57Yet you're here.
01:58And I imagine you're here not just for yourselves, but in the spirit of what you just heard for each
02:03other.
02:05You know, I mean it.
02:08You know, it's the oldest adage in the world.
02:10You want to go fast in life?
02:11Go alone.
02:13You want to go far?
02:14You go together.
02:15It's not complicated.
02:17That's the spirit of Jen's comments about partnership and the power of partnership,
02:21the power of being seen, the power of being heard.
02:25And I mentioned about teams.
02:26She felt supported, being seen, heard.
02:30Sometimes we need to be held.
02:33I feel like I need to be held.
02:37It is hard.
02:38And so this is, to me, one of the most special things.
02:41I said this a few years ago, and some of those cynical press people out there rolled their eyes.
02:46I said, literally, there was nothing I was more proud of in eight years than I've been part of
02:51than this extraordinary group of men and women and the work they're doing.
02:56I'm dead serious.
02:58I mean it.
03:03Because I've been in politics too long, or some way too long.
03:10And one of the things you learn the hard way, you can't legislate spirit.
03:14You can't legislate pride.
03:16There's no bill number.
03:18We're going to legislate happiness.
03:21It doesn't happen.
03:22It just, it happens because people make it happen.
03:27That spirit and the pride is reflected in this room and the work you do every single day.
03:31For those that have been at this for years and years, for the folks that have been doing it for
03:35years and years,
03:36they get that.
03:38And so I want to thank you for giving that at a time when we need that.
03:44At a time when we need to just feel like, is this like, I can't take this anymore.
03:51Like, tell me there's something better than this.
03:55And you're, you're that.
03:58You're the manifestation of that.
04:00You're the proof point of that.
04:02You're the answer to all of that.
04:05You're the antidote to that sin and fear and anxiety.
04:08And so when I say how proud I am of this, I'm dead damn serious.
04:12Because when I'm like, I don't know.
04:16And then I think about, Josh calls me up and says, man, it was amazing.
04:20And he says, I got something for you.
04:22I said, what is it?
04:22He goes, just open your screen.
04:26I'm like, what is it?
04:26He said, we sent you a video.
04:28You know, some of you guys have sent me videos.
04:30Like, it's amazing.
04:31Like, yeah, we're out here.
04:33It's 110 degrees.
04:34It sucks.
04:35But it's amazing.
04:36We crushed it.
04:38We're out there with the Conservation Corps.
04:40And we're out there with Cal Fire.
04:42We cleaned up this brush.
04:43It's amazing.
04:44You know, and I'm like, damn.
04:46Like, if you can be happy doing that, then I should just chill and just like buck up a little
04:51bit in terms of the work I'm doing.
04:53And so 50,000, 50,000 folks have been part of this.
05:00I mean, there's nothing, you heard it.
05:02There's nothing like this anywhere in the United States of America.
05:05Eat your heart out, all 49 other states.
05:10No one else does what we do.
05:12You do.
05:13It's amazing.
05:14And so we're starting this alumni network, which is so cool.
05:18And Josh is going to talk a little bit more about it because we want this to continue for years
05:23and years and years.
05:25And I think it was Plato who said, you guys, you know who Plato is if you don't, you know,
05:30check chat GPT and claw this.
05:33So if there's any hope for the future, those with lanterns, light, will pass them on to others.
05:41So we want this to be a movement.
05:43We want it to have meaning well beyond your time, my time, our time.
05:48We want this to become something bigger, yes, than ourselves.
05:53And that's what service is all about.
05:56I remember, and I'll close, I remember getting involved formally when I was tapped by the mayor of San Francisco,
06:05Willie Brown.
06:06And I was just some young guy running a small business in San Francisco.
06:10And somehow I got included in a group of people that he appointed to go back to Washington, D.C.,
06:17where AmeriCorps was launched at a whole nother level during the Clinton administration.
06:22And I'll never forget sitting here like you're sitting here right now.
06:26And this guy, Colin Powell, came up.
06:29General Powell.
06:31And I, man, that was like, I was like, oh.
06:34Talk about service.
06:36Talk about a giant.
06:37But I remember, I swear to God, I remember like yesterday, he said something that just really struck with me.
06:42It's weird.
06:42Those magical things that just stick with you.
06:44He said, no one stands taller than when he or she bends down on one knee to lift someone else
06:51up.
06:52I love that.
06:54No one stands taller than when he or she bends down on one knee to lift someone else up.
07:00I mean, that's what we need.
07:01We need more of that.
07:03We need more of you.
07:04So thank you for the privilege for me of being able to swear in.
07:09We got close to 11,000 folks this year.
07:1236,000 people applied this year.
07:15It's unbelievable.
07:16It's like record breaking.
07:18It's amazing.
07:19It's amazing.
07:21You want this.
07:23You want this.
07:25We need this.
07:27You know, Jen, talk about this.
07:29This should, we need this in the country.
07:31Every, there's no, this is the, this is the answer.
07:35You are the answer.
07:37There's no Republican Democrats.
07:39You know, there's just a team.
07:41There's people doing things together, rowing in the same damn direction, shared experiences.
07:47And you start to realize, man, we all want to be loved.
07:49We all need to be loved.
07:52We don't, you know, all those BS and all those differences, they're like, they're this.
07:56They're infinitesimal.
07:58And we have so much more in common.
07:59And that's what you are providing, that light every single day.
08:04And so with that, the reason I was in the back with that bowl cut haircut with my hair down,
08:11this dyslexic governor that does not read speeches was told that I have to read the oath today.
08:17So bear with me and give me some grace as I struggle to ask all of you to raise your
08:23right hand and repeat after me.
08:26Let's all stand up to all the cohorts.
08:29And we'll get you sworn in.
08:39And by the way, this was my way of getting you all to stand up.
08:43And can you give a big, loud round of loud ovation to Josh Friday who created this whole damn thing
08:51and made it all happen?
08:54Appropriately all standing on your damn feet.
08:58Guy walks on water.
09:01That's the spirit.
09:03I like that ovation.
09:05Well deserved, Josh.
09:07Nice.
09:08Look at that.
09:10Josh Friday for president.
09:13I like it.
09:15Man, took this from an idea and made all this happen.
09:20Man, that's what Jen said.
09:22She said, faith and works.
09:25As we pray, we move our feet.
09:29Dreamers and doers.
09:31And that's what you all represent.
09:33So it's in that spirit.
09:34It is my honor to swear in the last cohort of California Service Corps by asking all of you to
09:40raise your right hand
09:40and simply repeat after me as a California Service Corps member.
09:48I am committed to make change in my community.
09:55I will serve with humility, compassion, and integrity.
10:04Faced with apathy, I will take action.
10:10Forced with conflict, I will seek common ground.
10:18That was faced if you didn't realize.
10:20I'm just making sure you're paying attention.
10:24I will carry this commitment with me.
10:28Oh, wait, I didn't know you were all cheating up there.
10:31No wonder.
10:33Throughout my life.
10:36And I'm part of a service corps.
10:38I am part of a service corps.
10:40Connected by a common mission.
10:42Connected by a common mission.
10:44To build.
10:45A California for all.
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