To everyone so eager to cancel someone for a tattoo they got at age 22, a drunk text, a selfie they took in the middle of a mental health crisis:
Show us your laptop.
Show us your iCloud.
Open your entire digital life to your worst enemy. No context. No filter. No explanation.
You won’t.
You won’t because you know what I know. Any one of us, frozen at our worst moment, photographed in our lowest hour, looks like a monster. Looks like a stranger. Looks like someone who deserves to be cast out.
That is not who we are.
My mom and baby sister were killed in a car accident when I was just a kid. Cancer took my brother Beau, my best friend and my rock. I battled alcoholism. I battled addiction. I chose the coward’s way out more times than I can count.
For years I believed the defining chapters of my life were written by tragedy, loss, and shame.
I no longer believe that.
Pain can shape us. Loss can humble us. Failures can leave scars that never fully fade. But none of them have the authority to define us.
And it sure as hell ain’t the critic that counts.
That authority belongs to us alone-the person in the arena.
Every setback presents a choice. Play the victim, or cut the bullshit and take ownership for who we become next.
Life does not determine our character. It reveals it.
Again and again we are asked the same question. When shit happens, what next?
We are not defined by what happened to us. We are not defined by the worst photo, the worst text, the worst tattoo, the worst night. We are defined by the person we choose to become. And by the courage to choose that person, every single day.
So before you reach for the gavel - show us your laptop.
You won’t.
The whole world saw mine. And I am still here. Still becoming. Still choosing. Still standing.
That is the only definition that matters.
This man robbed a bank for $1, sat down and waited for the police, just to get free healthcare in prison
In 2011 a man named Richard James Verone walked into a RBC Bank in Gastonia, North Carolina
Handed the teller a note demanding $1
One dollar
Then sat down in the lobby and waited calmly for police to arrive
He was 59. No job. No insurance. A growth on his chest. Two ruptured discs.
Calculated that a federal conviction would guarantee him full medical coverage inside prison
The judge sentenced him to 3 years
He got the surgery
He got the treatment
He told reporters on the way out he had no regrets
A 59 year old American man robbed a bank for $1 because it was cheaper than seeing a doctor
Curiosity is stronger than love.
A reporter asked him, “How so?”
“I’m 94 years old, and I got married at 23.
But at 46, my wife left me.
She told me that she had become invisible now…
that I was working too much and I wasn’t paying enough attention to her anymore.
I told her that it wasn’t possible, that I loved her more than everything, and it was true but…
that’s when she asked me:
do you know when was the last time you came to see me play bridge?
I didn’t know how to answer, and she said…
‘It’s normal. You never came.’
And she left.
So I made a decision…
In the months that followed, I signed up for bridge lessons and…
I learned how to play, I practiced, I researched, and one day…
I saw there was going to be a tournament near our home. So I signed up and…
She was in the other team. I was seeing her for the first time in nearly a year…
Of course, she beat me.
But I saw a feeling in her eyes that I hadn’t seen for a long time.
Gratitude.
So at the end, I went to see her and I told her…
‘If you agree to give me a second chance, I’ll never miss any of your competitions again.’
I kept my word.
She passed away 8 years ago but…
She taught me the most precious of the lessons:
“Love isn’t enough, you have to know how to show it.”
There is this guy who comments “great cans” on everything I post. In a world full of hate and despair I know he will always be there for me to lift my spirits
My brother was unemployed for a year and his girl held him down the entire time. He recently got a job and has been working steadily. I asked him how was his girl and he said “OH A NIGGA GOT A JOB AND MONEY NOW, I LEFT HER.” I pulled over and put that ngga right on out my car.
English comedian Jimmy Carr breaks down why, in 25 years, you'd give every dollar you have just to be as healthy as you are today.
Pause the scroll for a moment and watch this.