Benjamin Wayo

Transcript

courage courage can be a difficult thing to have especially when it is most needed picture this a cold sunday morning early in the morning at a hospital somewhere west africa i am waiting outside the delivery room for the birth of my very first child now i wanted to be inside holding my wife's hand and helping me through it but the doctor said hospital policy young man you wait out here and we go in there and do our job so i waited but while i was waiting another woman in labor got everyone's attention not just by how much she was screaming but by what she kept

saying over and over again i'll kill him i'll kill him he did this to me i'm kidding and she went on and on and nothing anyone said could stop her finally the doctor said who is this guy and a nurse offered one he's just a boy two they are not in a committed relationship and three he's scared to death well he better do something she can have complications and so they hurried and found the boy and they brought to the doctor the doctor said get yourself together young man that's your childhood not to be born now you go in there and support that young woman

yes sir he said and crept in slowly but as soon as the door opened and she lifted up her head and saw him she screamed and he turned and ran out of there and never came back indeed courage can be a difficult thing to have especially when it is most needed but it gets worse just then i heard my wife scream my name and i felt an instant fear that i think i understood what a gazelle feels like when it hears the war of life i turned the loot to the doctor he looked at me and then he said i think it's only fair that

we let you in as well i said doctor hospital policy he said no we'll make an exception i said hospital policy and i realized he wasn't kidding and i had to make a decision between running away or staying with the ones i love was i the kind of person that could stay encourage or run in fear many years back i had the story of my uncle and his father who in a very terrible accident now his father was rescued from the vehicle unconscious but as soon as he came to he realized that his son was still in the burning bus but without hesitation he fought

everyone and ran straight into the fire and rescued his little boy but sadly he didn't make it but today my uncle his little boy stands tall because his father ran to and not away from a terrifying situation so i took one look at the door from where the streams of my life were coming from and i took one look at the exit and i swallowed hard and walked right into the fire a few minutes later i was holding our baby girl and right there i became a new person because i learned that i may not have enough courage for myself but i have more than

enough for the ones that i love you may not have enough boldness and ability for what you want to do but trust me there's more than enough inside you for the people that you care about and even now in these times of uncertainty and craziness we may not know everything but we know what to do to protect the people that we love so i may not know what to do for myself but i know what to do for you and i'll do it for you i'll protect you i'll do it for you you

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.

Transcript

why do some balloons fly and others fall as a little boy i was constantly taunted about the way i looked they call me names like headmaster because of the size of my head and even the shadow because of my extremely dark complexion and these hurtful words began to make me feel ugly unworthy and heavy inside but something completely different was happening back home my mother yeah you see whenever she got me all dressed up to go out she would make me stand in front of her straighten my shirt and with deep love and sincere admiration would look me in the eye and say fine boy

give me five and this made me feel so good and gradually it didn't matter what anyone outside said to me if my mama thought i was a fine boy i believed i was a fine boy and i began to feel more confident and lighter inside when you're fine inside you can't fall you could only fly and this was even more real because mother was not a hypocrite though mother had belly fat and stretch marks she was never ever ashamed of her body and was always confident any time in front of a mirror was an opportunity for her to strike a cute pose and with the

same sincere admiration fine girl and so after i got married and after several children i would sometimes catch my wife julia feeling insecure about the changes on her body but i would always say hey baby look at me fine girl baby baby you see i learned that all that belly fat and stretch marks ugly no for me they had a special meaning they were the symbols of her sacrifice i helped create those marks on my mother and i helped create those marks on my wife how can i then hate the consequence of their sacrifice of falling in love sharing their bodies and bearing beautiful babies

how can i hate what i helped create through love no mother's deep sincere love and admiration for herself and for me taught me that love begins inside and not outside the true love is from inside out and not from outside in so why do some balloons fly and others fall it's not because of their color shape or size on the outside no it's because of what they carry inside whatever you and i carry inside can make the difference between flying up in joy and tranquility or going down in depression and despair hey love yourself love deeply love from inside out you

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.