Awesome Responsibility with Kyle Carpenter | A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek: Episode 36

Kyle Carpenter is the youngest living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest medal in the land. I'll read from his citation. On November 21, 2010, 21 year old Lance Corporal Carpenter and a fellow Marine were manning a rooftop security position on the perimeter of Patrol Base Dakota and in Afghanistan when the enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him but saving the life of his fellow Marine. Kyle talks about the responsibility he feels to wear the title of Marine to being a recipient of the Medal of Honor, and most of all, the awesome responsibility we all have to our fellow human beings. This is a bit of optimism.

The funny thing is I was going to ask you, can you tell your story? But it occurred to me that I probably know as much about your story as you do because you don't rarely remember what happened, but you remember before and you remember after. Is that true?

That is correct, yes.

Can you tell me you were 20, 21 years old?

I just turned 21, been in the Marine Corps.

Not even two years yet, right?

Correct. Not even two years.

Can you lead me up to what you remember?

Absolutely. So just for a little context, a lot of people want to know, you know, what the four months like was leading up to that from sunup to sundown, every single day was a constant and violent fight for survival. And every single night I laid my head down on the dirt. And I think everyone, if you really think about things while you're over there, you can't help but to think and wonder, is this the last time I'm going to lay my head down on my pillow? And as violent and scary and uncertain as it was, I believed it then and I believe it just as much, if not more today that, you know, whatever the big convoluted political reasons are for things, we were there simply trying to help our fellow struggling human beings. And so in a way, I was kind of at peace and kind of content with if it is the last time I lay my head down on my pillow, I'm okay with that. And so that, that's just a little context as to how the deployment was. Fast forward to November 21st. This is 2010, and my squad and I got tasked with pushing south and moving into a new village, taking over a new compound, and essentially just try to Survive and keep your foot in the ground until we can get you reinforcements. And we started getting shot at about halfway down. So that was a great start to the mission. We take over the compound. And very shortly after the first hand grenade attack came. And whether it was hand grenades or small arms fire, the attacks were pretty consistent over the next 24 to 30 hours until the day and afternoon that I got hit. I got hit on November 21st. And the only thing I remember from that entire day was surprise, surprise. We started getting attacked that morning around sunrise. And I remember it was about 7:30 going on 8am and I hear the AK47. And I remember rolling over and unzipping my sleeping bag and thinking something like, here we go again in another day in Afghanistan. Fast forward to later that afternoon. And the only other thing I remember from that entire day was right before I got hit, myself and a fellow Marine and best friend, Nick Eufrazio, he was my point man in my squad. We did every patrol together. Just an incredible person and Marine. We were on post together. Anyone listening not familiar with military terminology? It's just a lookout position. It's a high elevated position to look outside of the base for enemy activity to keep those inside the base that aren't on watch and vigilant safe. We had made it almost entire four hours of our shift time. Our relief was getting geared up, was about to climb up on the roof to us. And Nick and I were going through scenarios just to try to get even if it was a half of a second a jump on a reaction of anything that would happen. Hey, if they attack from this road or this alleyway, this is what you'll do, this is what I'll do, this is how we'll respond. And ironically, the very last thing that I remember is asking Nick what happens when a grenade comes up here. And that was serious, but also half joking, half dark humor, just to get us through that eerily quiet and scary time. And he said, my ass is off this roof. I said, dude, I'm right behind you. Clearly our planning didn't work at all. But the next thing I remember is I felt like I got hit really hard in the face. My ears were immediately ringing extremely loud, just as they are this very second as I'm talking to you. My vision was as if I was looking at a TV with no connection, just white and gray static. And there was just an extreme sense of confusion and disorientation trying to put the pieces together. I thought, okay, well, I'm pretty sure I was in Afghanistan.

I'm pretty sure I was on a roof, but what could have possibly injured me this bad on a roof? Because they can't bury IEDs and roofs. And.

I thought, okay, well, maybe I got off through the roof. I went on a foot patrol and I stepped on an ied. And that's just the last thing my mind can recollect that was interrupted by. And this next part will allude to Marines humor with each other. And keep in mind, I was very confused, but I felt like someone was pouring warm water all over me. I'm thinking, man, guys, come on. It's kind of messed up in this banged up state I'm in. You know, you're all messing with me right now. But that final piece allowed all the other disoriented ones to fall into place. And I realized that it wasn't warm water, that I was profusely bleeding out. And kind of with that piece of info, just how I physically felt, how quickly I was getting tired. And a tired that I can't even describe, one that just consumed every fiber of my being.

With that and then with, unfortunately, the casualties I had seen so far on that deployment, with blood loss and injuries and things like that, I knew, unfortunately, that my time was coming to a close on this earth. And with the last few seconds I had, I thought about my family. I thought about my mom and how devastated she was going to be when she found out that I was not going to make it home alive. And I said a quick prayer for forgiveness for anything I had done wrong in my life. And I faded from consciousness and the world on that hot, dusty rooftop. And to my very pleasant surprise, I woke up roughly five weeks later with snow outside of my hospital room window on the other side of the world in Washington, D.C. at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. And I opened the only eye I had left and my first sight to this new world and beautiful bonus round that I'm living now was red Christmas stockings that my mom had hung decorating my room for Christmas. You know, that was.

Really the start of this.

At times very difficult, but overall extremely beautiful journey that I've been on these past, as crazy as it sounds 11 years now.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You use words that I think a lot of people would not expect to hear. When you tell your story, you use the word beautiful journey. Can you just unpack that for me, please?

There were many long, dark and painful nights. But I think pain is a gift. I guess the best way to summarize it is all of the hardships have not just made me better, but it's taught me perspective. It can never be stated how important perspective is. It's just taught me so many lessons that I'm thankful that, you know, a lot of people don't use words like that when it comes to hardships, because, you know, I was pushed to such a limit. To be resuscitated three times, to wake up and be told you have three years and 40 surgeries minimum left in this hospital. All that is very difficult. But it's taught me through those dark times to find the silver linings. It's taught me to look at the glass half full, but also remember what it was like when I looked at it half empty. And ultimately, that grenade gave me. You know, I would say, and I'm still trying to discover it and still trying to understand it, but that grenade gave me a profound insight to where I can now take what I've been through and help other people through their own struggles, to tell people that even the smallest of steps eventually completes the grandest of journeys, that you can actually get knocked down in life and come back better and stronger than you were before. Also, I've learned that struggle and hardship is the bridge and common thread throughout every single person on this earth. You know, I've been through what I've been through. You've been through what you've been through. We all can say that, but yet we all heal in our own time, in our own ways. It's hard to summarize all the amazing and powerful and profound lessons that I have learned and experienced through all of this. But I hope I summarized it enough right there.

You're so present right now. It's not lost on me that you are asked to talk about this a lot. You know, whether it's public speeches or meeting people. And yet here I am. And I'm just profoundly moved by how present you are as you tell your story slowly and steadily and conscientiously, as if you're telling me for the first time when you talk about learning lessons, what I see, what I hear is someone who's listening to their own words, constantly learning more each time you talk about it, about yourself. Were you like this as a young man, as a young Marine? Were you introspective? And were you that friend, you know, who gave us perspective? Or did this come afterwards?

I think internally I was like that to some degree. I don't think I was the guy that everyone was coming to like Dr. Phil. But.

Three years in the hospital is, you know, it can Be seen in the. In the big picture as not that long or a very long time. But with that time, with the hours I was in pre op before every surgery, with the hours I sat in therapy wondering if my finger or my hand was going to ever twitch or make that nerve graft connection again, going through that, but then also getting out of the hospital and immediately starting college, getting into public speaking and realizing that I had a platform, I guess you could say, but put the platform aside and just the intimate, everyday conversations with people, I did have to realize that it is the first time they might be talking to me or listening to what I'm saying. It might be the first time they're talking to a Marine, a veteran, a injured and combat wounded warrior. It might be the first time they're talking to an American. And of course, when the medal happened, I mean, that just put an entire new weight on things. I have to realize that I can be a bridge and I can educate on. You know, it might not be perfect, but maybe how to get through your own struggle.

Your life profoundly changed. Surviving your injuries. Did it change a second time when you were awarded the Medal of Honor? Because you just said a second ago the responsibility that came with that medal. What did you mean by that?

Well, I'm happy to report that, you know, I don't feel 1% different from the moment I became Medal of Honor recipient to the second before, when I was Kyle back on the block. You know, I just. I'm very thankful that I've just always felt like me and that the medal is just a tremendous honor. But what's changed is my sense of continued duty and the level of responsibility that I feel.

What responsibility do you feel?

Well, when the President draped the medal around my neck, it was heavy. I mean, it was a heavy moment. I always knew that it was never mine or it was never one individual's. It never has been and never will be. But I realized that that Medal of Honor does not just represent myself. It represents the journey that the Marines that had their boots in the dirt in Afghanistan endured with me and us together. It represents my family and the long, terrifying, dark nights in the ICU for weeks where they just hoped that I would take that next breath. My brothers, who spent their Christmas and a year of middle school living and visiting my hospital room. It represents the children in Afghanistan that asked me through interpreters. Is everywhere in America, like Disney World. Can you really turn a knob in your house and get fresh, clean drinking water? It represents all of the people around the world that for whatever reason, they wake up and they hope that today's sunrise is going to be a little better than the day before. You go beyond that. And it represents not only those that didn't make it back because they gave their last full measure of devotion in a field of a distant land that most people probably won't even be able to point out on a map, but it represents those souls that are still guarded today at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We can't even tell their families where they took that last breath, how they took it, how they were injured. And so it's just. It's a beautiful burden and it's extremely heavy, but one that I will forever be extremely grateful and humbled and honored to carry. And I'm also very thankful that my country recognized me, because, you know, that not only doesn't happen that much for whatever reason in today's military, but just the fact that I could be recognized and really be given a tool that led to a platform to where I can, again, educate, but more specifically share everything I just did. And their journeys, Obviously, they don't have a voice anymore, so there's a lot that comes with it. But I just hope that, you know, like on the roof, I can be the Marine and friend and Medal of Honor recipient that, you know, I need to be.

I talk about my interest in exaggerated cases because it really helps see the point. And I think a lot of people misunderstand the military and definitely misunderstand Marines. And I've had the opportunity to spend time with some Marines, and. And I've been to Paris.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Simon. I know. I know.

It's okay. The therapy's working.

The.

And when I had the chance to ask Marine, you know, what makes the Marines so good? And he said, love. Love of country, love of Corps, love of your fellow Marine. And you speak like someone who's in love. You threw yourself in between a grenade and your friend. They don't train you to do that. They train you to do all kinds of things, but that's not one of the things they train for.

Yeah. And I don't recommend it. If you were wondering.

You know, that behavior, that instinct. Because remember, the two of you joked and planned that if that happens, you're going to jump off the roof. And yet you did the complete opposite. Can't follow a plan.

Not my best decision.

But, I mean, it's too hard to ask you now because it's instinct. You sort of. What inspired or motivated you to do that?

Well, you're right. I love Nick, and I love the Marines that I was with, and I love the Marine Corps. And I will. You know, however my journey turned out, I will forever love the Marine Corps and be so appreciative of them, allowing me to join and to serve because it. It gave me a portal and an opportunity to what I feel like, reach my destiny and to be able to fulfill my purpose. And I don't know exactly what that is, but I know because of what I've been through, it couldn't have been any other way.

I want to unpack this for people who don't know. The military, which is the real cynics out there, will hear some of your words and say, brainwash.

Right?

Because that's what the military does. They brainwash these kids. Right?

Yeah.

And what. What we're missing here is you said, I love Nick. Now you're a warrior. You're a combat veteran and a warrior, and you say, I love Nick. Those are the words you use. And I love the Marines that I served with. You didn't necessarily like them all, but you love them all.

Yeah.

And we who go to work in the private sector, civilians, rarely if ever will say of our colleagues, I love them. And if you feel it, you really don't say it. In fact, a lot of people are uncomfortable even saying I love you to our friends. And I think it's very important for people to understand that it is really this shared struggle and shared hardship that this group of people endure that we know biologically shared struggle and shared hardship brings people together. You know, you go to a place where there's a hurricane or a tornado, all of a sudden, politics don't matter. None of that stupid stuff that we argue about matters. All of a sud. We come together and we take care of each other, and we hug each other and we cry with each other. And people will talk about the fact that they will risk their lives for their children because they love their children. They will risk their lives for their spouse because they love their spouse. And love makes us do crazy things that put ourselves in harm's way for someone else. And it's love that motivates this instinct, because there was no thinking. There was no time to think. You didn't weigh the pros and the cons. And you have to have an intense relationship with someone or an intense relationship with your cause for the instinct to be, I'm going to put myself in harm's way to save the life of another human being.

You know, to answer your question, And I have thought about this a lot. I love Nick and my fellow Marines by rewind a little bit. And from the moment that van door is seemingly ripped off its hinges by the scariest human being I've ever seen in my life, and you get out of that van and you're getting screamed.

At and you're told you're talking about boot camp.

Yeah. When you get told to stand on those yellow footprints at Parris island, from that moment on, over the next 13 weeks of boot camp and your career, every day through training, when you're the most beat down, which is every minute you're there, you're correct. You are not trained to jump on a grenade. I don't even think you could train that if you wanted to.

I don't think you could.

But what you are taught is all of the generations and courageous stories of those who wore the same uniform that you were about to put on, just unfathomable stories of the 17, 18, 19 year olds that they were told. You're probably not even going to make it onto the beach. In World War II, at Normandy, throughout the Pacific, you know where the Marines were. You're probably not even going to make it out of landing craft. If you do, you're probably not going to survive charging the beach. And if you do, you know, you're in the 10 to 20%.

And knowing that they still charge for it anyway. The Marines that covered grenades for their fellow Marines who bled out in the fields of Vietnam, you know, the Marines that I saw in Afghanistan that took a knee in front of the locals during firefights, hoping that if Iran came in, they would take it instead of the father and son, you're trained through incredible stories and through our incredible history of Marines that came before us. So when the time comes, whether it's to charge into a firefight or onto a beach or take a grenade, you want to be courageous because you know the boots and the uniform that you're filling.

This is a really important point, which is so many people, we hear this from politicians all the time, which is they invoke the future. They invoke our children. We have to do this for the future. We have to do this for the children, for this abstract, unwritten future. And if that was truly our motivation, we wouldn't make half the decisions we make, right? But the reality is the past is not unwritten. The past happened. And the past is not ethereal, it's tangible. And we are more likely to make good decisions, right decisions, ethical and moral decisions when we Feel a responsibility, as you said, to those who came before us to uphold and ensure that their sacrifice does not go in vain, then to invoke the future.

Absolutely. The past is, I mean, really all we can learn from.

Yeah. And here you are, this Marine who. The uniform you wear, you carry in this uniform the stories of Vietnam and Korea and World War II and all of the heroism and sacrifice. It was all wrapped up in that eagle, globe, and anchor that when you say, I'm a Marine, you're a part of a club that includes all of those brave men and women. And now you are a part of that legacy. And all the future Marines now wear the uniform of, which includes your story and those of your fellow Marines. And I find this idea of knowing that you're a part of a continuum, that your life is simply a moment in a very, very big story humbling. But I think it conveys that sense of awesome responsibility. As you said, the Congressional Medal of Honor is not yours. It does not belong to you. But rather, others have worn it, and others will wear it, and you are a part of a member of. And that membership comes with responsibility. But it's not mine.

Right.

And I think it's very specific. You know, a lot of. And you know this. Civilians will say, you won the medal. And for folks who haven't served in the military, if you listen carefully, folks in the military say, I was awarded a medal or she was awarded a medal, but they said won.

And I think this is a really sophisticated. And something that I have learned from the folks that I've had the honor to call friends from the military. And you said it before, which is, language has power.

Yes.

And our ability to adapt our language will affect not only how we view others, but how we view ourselves. And I think one of the things you learn in the military, you learn these words, you learn love, you learn honor. Honor means something in your. In where you come from. Honor kind of is a cheesy thing that comes from movies with knights in shining armor outside of your world. Which is why I think it's important for folks like you to tell your story, because folks like us need to hear your story and need to learn these new perspectives. You called your book you are Worth It. And it's such a. First of all, it's a good title because it's nuanced and multifaceted, because you're referring to yourself, but you're also referring to other people.

Right? Exactly.

I am sure you. You had to convince yourself that you were worth it to go through the struggle that you went through for those three years in hospital.

I did, and I.

I didn't think of it like that. I thought of it as. I thought of it as man. Simon. That was a good one. That was a curveball I've never been hit with. I thought about it as my own personal challenge and journey to prove to myself the lesson I said at the beginning of this, and that is that one, no matter what you go through, you can get through it. Whether it takes a day or the rest of your life, you can, first of all. But then the follow on to that was, how can I come back better and stronger than I was before I got knocked down or blown up?

Details, details.

Right, right. And so.

This really started very early on. And again, I woke up, I had one eye, Ear drones are blown out. And the only thing that wasn't injured on me was my left ankle, which is what my parents held onto for 24 hours a day until I got out of the ICU. Hallucination stage of things. And here I am all banged up. My arms are tied up to this, like, crazy bed contraption for swelling because my arms were getting so swollen that they were having to cut them open because they were so swollen that they were cutting off the circulation to wherever it was the most swollen, anything below that. And the worst part, maybe, or top three of my time in the hospital and those first three months was having a trach and breathing through a tiny straw in my neck. When you're under intense pain, what do you do? Try to breathe. You try to get through it. And, you know, I was. First of all, I'm kind of claustrophobic. And so by the time I slowly sucked in enough air, I was already panicked to kind of get it back out. And so there were just all these things. But through all of these things, and don't ask me how I had this thought or this insight, probably half medication, thinking I could even possibly do this later on. But I had that thought, you know, what can I do to somehow prove just to myself, I didn't tell anyone this and myself alone.

To show that, hey, I'm not just still with it. And I'm not just still, Kyle, but I'm a better version. And I thought maybe one day I can attempt a marathon, because I had never done. I thought about it, but I had never attempted or taken the idea of a marathon seriously before I was injured. You know, fast forward through again, many long, dark and painful nights and slow progress. And I realized that, well, if I can sit up in the bed, which was a very difficult task because when your body's unconscious and atrophying for over a month, you know, everything from your muscles to your bones to your breathing, you know, has to kind of get back in gear. So I'll get extremely nauseous anytime I even tried to sit up. So we did the whole. Okay, well, we'll give him a shot of Zofran 30 minutes before he wants to move. You know, we'll get the bedpan out so he can take care of that, and then we'll try to. Try to get him going. Okay. But I realized that.

So, of course, the logical thing is to think, I'd love to do a marathon. It makes perfect sense, Kyle. Perfect sense.

I said I was heavily medicated, Simon. No, but I realized, though, if I can sit up in the bed, I can work on hanging my feet off the edge. Yeah, if I can hang my feet off the edge, I can work on standing. If I can stand, I can take a step. If I can take a step, I can walk. If I can walk, maybe one day I can run and attempt that marathon. And so now, today, I've crossed the finish line of that marathon three times. And the first time I did it, which was. And I don't recommend this either, but it was just a few months after I got out of the hospital, and I was working on the freshman 15 from USC. So I just was, this is not the best time to attempt a marathon, and I didn't train for it. So I just. I was 0 for 3 on going into this.

But when I crossed that finish line, I'm thankful I had sunglasses on, because I immediately teared up.

I just got so emotional, because in that moment, I, deep down, truly, wholeheartedly, not just believed, but now I knew.

That all of the things I had been trying to teach myself and all of the silver linings and the small lessons and the smallest steps hopefully completes the grandest of journeys type mindset. The moment my foot crossed that finish line.

It went from belief and hope to truth. And 50% of my emotion was that I proved it to myself. But the other 50% was.

I almost crossed the finish line, completing that difficult chapter for my family.

There's a piece to this that was really important for us to talk about, which is, there's two meanings to you are worth it. One is to say it to yourself that for me, to push myself, to learn resilience, to learn grit, to endure, is because I am worth it. I'm a work in progress. And I am worth it. And the other reason is because you're doing it for others. And the sacrifices that we make are for others because they are worth it. They are worth our sacrifice, whether it's the legacy of the past or the people in our lives now.

Yes.

And this is the reality of being human, which is we have to contend with being an individual and we have to contend with being a member of a group every day.

Exactly.

And our nation.

And we're not going to go down this rabbit hole, I believe has over indexed on rugged individualism. It's over indexed on the Marlboro man and putting ourselves first. I often joke that there's an entire section in the bookshop called self help. And there's no section in the bookshop called help others.

Yeah. Wow. So true.

And what we need is a help others industry.

And that's the second application of you were worth it, which is I will struggle because I am worth it. And I think we have learned all these positive reinforcements and these self affirmations because that's what we're being told, but doesn't quite work until you have someone in your life that you love so deeply that you will struggle and sacrifice because they are worth it.

And that dual meaning, that nuance of you are worth it is both for us as individuals, but it's also for the people in our lives. Why did you do that? Why did you think? Throw yourself in front of a grenade? Why did you run the marathon? Why did you, you know, push through to become a better version of yourself? It's not all for you. It continues to be in service to the people you love and even some of the people you love that you don't know. You've talked about it a few times, your fellow human beings.

Absolutely.

And I know this about you. And you know this. There's a weird controversy in the military, how folks in uniform feel when they're in uniform and somebody comes up to them and says, thank you for your service. And some folks are fine with it. They're grateful and they say you're welcome. And some folks really hate it. They get really angry when somebody comes up to them and says thank you for your service. It's a debate. What I think is interesting is your answer. That when somebody comes up to you and says thank you for your service.

You say.

You are orthod.

That makes me cry.

Well, it helps me to let them know that, you know, whether it's someone on the street here in Charlotte, North Carolina, or where the title and kind of this Phrase really came to prominence is talking to my Uber driver, shout out Bobby from Pakistan.

He was taking me to the airport 10 minutes down the road. And you know, he said a bunch of beautiful things to me about my service and he thanked me and I said, you are worth it. And it was the first time I had really said it. And you know me now I had to go and think about it and dissect it in the airport. And you know, I realized and everything you said was beautifully put. I really don't even have to add anything because you really said it perfectly. I.

Had to feel like my, you know, first of all, life is worth it. And I had to feel like my struggle and my purpose and my life was worth fighting for, it was worth carrying on, it was worth staying. I had to work and learn and understand that side of it.

But whether I was saying, you are worth it to Bobby or someone here on the sidewalk, in a way it is kind of putting it back on them and making them think, wow, this guy's obviously got very injured, had a hard road and he's saying, I'm worth it. So I hope to make people think, what have I done? Or what should I do? Or how can I start giving back.

So I can feel like I'm worth him telling me that.

But ultimately above, you know, even that, it's to let people know exactly that, that they are worth serving for, they are worth sacrificing for and they are worth time in a hospital bed and deep scars on my body because. And you made the comment earlier about how we love each other because in the Marines we have this common mission and common goal and really take the military out of it. And we're all in this strange and challenging journey of life together, no matter your background or your walk of life. Now, to help someone, to be there for someone, to tell someone you care is very special and very powerful. And you know, those few seconds leading up to the grenade on the roof, of course the questions have always been there. What were you thinking? Why'd you do it? Of course I don't remember. And I just realized this in the past few years, but I think that people being in such disbelief and wondering so intently how I did that is the greatest and kind of most ironic thing of all. Because that's the beauty of the human spirit. You never know how, when, or to what capacity you're going to step up and not just be a hero.

But be a life saving hero for someone whether that's laying on a grenade on top of a roof on the other side of the world, or putting your arm around someone and saying, hey, this is obviously bad, but it's not really that bad. You can get through it. And if you need someone to get through with you, let me know and I'm there. Yeah, I mean, that is. I think. I think people don't realize just how profound that is.

And it's the same question, right, when somebody asks you, why did you throw yourself on a grenade to protect your fellow Marine? When I showed up to work late, because my friend was having a hard time, and I put my arm around them and said, you got this, and I'm there for you. And they turn to me and say, why would you say that? Why are you doing that? Why are you missing work? Why are you sacrificing for me? The answer is the same. It's because you're worth it.

And what a powerful thing to be that person to someone else. Right.

Because one day they're going to need, want, and hope.

When the time comes that, you know, you'll need that conversation and the roles reversed.

Yeah. You made it your mission to become a better version of yourself.

And I have no idea what you were like before, but you're a remarkable version of yourself today. And I hope people take your lessons to heart and practice your philosophy. The world would be a lot better place if we all saw the world and the way you see it. Kyle, thank you so much.

Thank you, Simon. I appreciate that this opportunity and I look forward to many years of a friendship to come.

It's an honor.

Thank you.

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