This is the transcript of a speech Jamy Bechler gave to the 2021 Barberton, Ohio Kiwanis International scholarship winners.
Some of us see a 6. Some of us see a 9.
Sometimes whether we see a 6 or a 9 is based on our perspective. Our point of view.
We sometimes see things differently than others. It doesn’t mean that they are right and we are wrong, but it also doesn’t mean that we are right and they are wrong. Sometimes people just see things differently.
Sometimes it’s not just people but situations or things that we see differently. We might see a 6, but the reality is that the situation is a 9.
Our point of view or perspective may not always be right, but it also may not always be wrong. Sometimes we just see the world differently.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood. That is one of the habits that Dr. Stephen Covey mentions in his famous book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you want to be a highly effective person in life, then you’ll seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Six versus nine. You see things differently than someone else. You think you’re right. Why can’t they see things the way you see them? Why can’t the other person understand you? Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most of the disagreements, arguments, and frustrations you’ll have with other people can be minimized, or even eliminated just by seeing things from their point of view. Seek first to understand.
Six versus nine. The world says success is the accumulation of things. The world says success is climbing the corporate ladder as quickly as possible. The world says there has to be a winner and a loser. If you succeed, then I have to fail. Or maybe success only looks one way. Sometimes there can be multiple ways to skin a cat (what a weird saying, who would want to skin a cat, anyway?!?). Sometimes there can be win-win solutions. Sometimes we can all win in life.
Each of you wants to be successful in life. Each of you might have a slightly different definition of success but the one that I like best is that success is becoming the best you are capable of becoming. Success is maximizing your potential – whatever that may be.
It is important for us to be successful. It is important for us to be the best version of ourselves and become the best that we are capable of becoming.
However, as the great baseball player, Jackie Robinson once said, “A life is not important or significant except in the impact it has on other lives.” Success is becoming the best you are capable of becoming. But the significance is helping others become successful. Significance is helping others become the best they are capable of becoming.
Being the best you are capable of becoming and then helping others to achieve the same can be tremendously rewarding.
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Their mission is about making the world better.
Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
You are a scholarship award winner. You are being honored today. That means you have potential. That means you have strengths that have been recognized in winning these scholarships. It also means that you have the ability to be a change agent.
You might be thinking what can I do? I am only one person. I am just a teenager.
Six versus nine. You are right, you are only one person. You might not be able to do everything but you can do something. You can’t help everyone but you can help somebody.
The great rough rider and former U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt used to say that “comparison is the thief of all joy.” Don’t compare yourself to others. Just do what you are capable of doing. Each of you is capable of helping someone and doing something.
I don’t know what that will be but the opportunities are immeasurable.
We can’t do everything at once but we can do something at once. Start today. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, that “the time is always right to do the right thing.”
Six versus nine. The world is mean to each other. Start being kind. Social media is full of negativity. Start pointing out the positives. You’re frustrated because there is so much hate in the world, then start loving people – even those you disagree with. No one listens to anyone anymore, then ask questions. Listen with the intent to understand, not just listening with the intent to reply. Learn to listen and listen to learn.
Six versus nine. Instead of pointing out all the reasons something can’t happen, find reasons why it can happen. Instead of finding excuses, find a way. Instead of fixating on problems, focus on solutions.
Six versus nine. If you see the world as a scary place, then you’ll never take risks. If you see failures as an ending, you’ll never learn, fail forward, or make a comeback from your setbacks. If you see luck as something that only happens to others, then you’ll never be prepared for when your opportunity to get “lucky” comes your way. If you only see the red traffic lights that stop you, you’ll never be grateful for the green lights.
Six versus nine. You aren’t rich. You don’t have a million Instagram followers. You aren’t a politician. You don’t have your own reality show.
But you don’t need a certain status or a certain amount of things to do something big. You have so much potential. You have so many opportunities in front of you. You might never do something that lands you in the history books or wins you a Nobel Peace Prize, but you can always do what you can with what you have, where you are at. Bloom where you are planted. Do what you can. Make a difference in the world around YOU.
Be successful. Be the best you are capable of becoming. Then live a life of significance. Help others to be their best they are capable of becoming as well.
Think big, Dream big, and Do big things even if they are just seemingly small steps on a small scale. Most big things in life start small.
Help change the world for the better one person, one community, and one day at a time, and let that change start with you and let it start today.