Peter Hernandez

Transcript

bang bang bang open up the military had just overthrown our democratic government my family was gathered at my grandparents place uniformed soldiers with machine guns burst into the house we're here for pedro hernandez my grandfather got up and walked over they grabbed him by the back of the arm and turned to leave my father got up and rushed quickly to his side who the hell are you they yelled pedro hernandez he said they look confused and then one said in a cold voice take them both what they didn't realize was that there was actually a third pedro hernandez in the house i was just a

child i walked over to my father and i grabbed his hand and i said papa where are you going our hands pulled apart as the soldiers pushed my father and my grandfather out the door and for the first time i realized that it was not safe to be pedro my father was detained for several weeks and brutally tortured before being released my parents decided that it was no longer safe to stay in chile and within a year we boarded a plane to freedom it was a freezing day in january 75 when we arrived in toronto canada the true north strong and free we had no

home no food no friends no money but this was freedom baby and then i started school i was all pimped out in dress pants and little black dress shoes the kids made fun of my name my accent my skin color and at lunch while everybody else was eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches i hid my empanadas i would have given anything for a freaking peanut butter sandwich and i can still remember the day that i changed my name my mother showed up at school to drop off a snack pedro oh no pedro i didn't look pedrito the kids started to laugh and then in a

thick spanish accent she said and i looked once again it was not safe to be pedro and from that day on pedro no longer existed i was peter and as peter i was determined to fit in i became a disrupter in a class clown and when my grades tanked i managed to convince my parents that the ease on my report card stood for excellent i continued to hide out in my new identity in high school i hid behind alcohol drugs and fighting in university it escalated to arrest and court appearances i got really good at being a rebellious badass instead of being myself and this

carried over into my relationships with girls on the inside i was desperate to be loved but with every heartbreak i hid myself a little more to avoid rejection at age 29 i left a bar in an emotional head spin after a couple drinks and yet another heartbreak i was overcome with sadness and my car started to skid off the road i hit the brakes and i screamed and it swerved and rolled to a smoky stop soon enough i was surrounded by police bang bang bang open up i locked the doors and cranked the stereo to drown out the shouting in the sirens to drown out

the kids laughter from school to drown out the rejection and the life i've been living bang bang bang open the door i put my hands on the steering wheel and my head down and i cried and i cried as a lifetime of sadness crashed through my body and as i barricaded myself in the car i realized for the first time that i'd been imprisoned my whole life shackled by paralyzing chains that had taken my personal freedom the freedom to be myself all along i believe that freedom meant escaping a dictatorship escaping pedro escaping rejection but true freedom doesn't have anything to do with a location

on a map with social acceptance or even being loved freedom is choosing to be yourself no matter how dangerous it seems hola me llamo pedro hernandez you can call me peter you

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

Transcript

to change the world go home and love your family a quote by mother teresa as a child i remember being in a restaurant with my parents and sisters we were having a great time as a family when i noticed a couple sitting across from us they were just watching and smiling as they got up to leave they smiled again and when my father asked for the bill we were told it had already been paid my eyes opened wide and i asked why papa and he said your love for each other jumped from your hearts to theirs now we all tell family we love them but

don't just say it feel it and send it from heart to heart i didn't quite understand what my father meant that day until i experienced it ten years ago when my sister came to visit me in mexico city i was living there at the time for several years and i was excited to show her my stomping grounds and like a brother i made sure to warn her about the dangers of such a big city but unfortunately i didn't take my own advice i got us into a cab the wrong cab at the wrong time before we knew it we'd been kidnapped it was like an

out of body experience i could see my sister kicking and screaming as two men pushed their way into our cab i couldn't understand what was going on and then i got punched in the head and i finally snapped out of it but by then it was too late calm your wife down they screamed my sister started hyperventilating and i was just left thinking so this is how it ends and then they held up my credit cards your pin numbers are you die of course i cooperated but i didn't know how we were going to get out alive so in that moment without telling my sister

what i was doing i started to say my goodbyes i looked her straight in the eyes and spoke directly into her soul you're the best sister i could ever have and i'm sorry for getting us into this mess with tears streaming down her face she held my hand and then touched my cheek and said you're a wonderful brother i love you but there was something so profound about our love in that moment that something came alive inside us and inside that cab and transcended to everyone within the cab and it was in that moment that i understood what my father had meant because now instead

of yelling they said where are you from i said chile and my sister said canada at the same time they looked confused and i didn't want them to think we were playing games so i quickly offered up we were born in chile and raised in canada and she's not my wife she's my sister she instinctively jumped in and humanized us do you have sisters she said one guy said yeah but we're not close like you two they hardly take my calls and we all laughed together and then the guy beside me eased up and said your sister has a great kick she got me right

in the leg my sister just giggled and said i'm sorry but you guys scared me and there we were in the back of this cab connecting with our captors like we were making new friends i said chile and mexico are both in the world cup and they got so excited and cheered we must have spoke about soccer for what seemed like hours as we drove around in a holding pattern waiting for them to get instructions i ended up seeing the one guy screensaver the toronto raptors and switched the conversation to basketball eventually he was even showing me photographs of his girlfriend then the phone rang

and they received word that money had been retrieved from our account and we were to be dropped off i said you can't drop us off here it's dark and in the middle of nowhere we'll just get picked up again and kidnapped again and they actually gave us directions and then i thought wait a minute you took all our money give us some money back and they looked at each other the one guy nodded and they gave us a hundred pesos a hundred pesos give me a hundred pesos give my sister a hundred pesos and they did and then the cab stopped the door open and

we were rushed out but not before hearing them say amigos when we see chili in the world cup we're going to remember you two as i look back on that night many years later there's no question in my mind that the love between my sister and i saved our lives that night like my father had said to us as kids our love for each other jumped from our hearts to theirs so next time you tell someone you love them don't just say it feel it and send it from heart to heart thank you

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