Rico Sharp urges young people to protect themselves from the leading causes of teen death: car accidents, suicide, and drugs. He emphasizes self-forgiveness and commitment to education, asking students to value their lives and resist negative peer influence.
Chapters
I'm telling you what I know. Being a pastor, I, I have the honor and the privilege of sharing with families during their time of grieving or bereavement, particularly when someone dies. And I see students your age, young adults at your age category, being laid in the casket. I'm sorry. And even children and even babies. So when I say to you that life is short, I'm not telling you something that I heard. I'm telling you something that I know. And so when I say to you that you have to make a dedication or you have to make a commitment to take care of you, I'm telling you this because I've been down the street where people are dying and I see what's happening. And so I'm coming here to talk to you from my heart. Because you have the grand opportunity that a lot of people right now in this world wish they had. And you know what that is? You have your youth. So that means your whole life is ahead of you. But the question is, what are you going to do with your life? What are you going to do with the time that you have? What are you going to do with the years that you have in front of you? What are you going to do with your future? What are you going to do with your career? What are you going to do with your life? See, some of us in here, we got people in our lives that we call friends or homeboys or homegirls or associates and what have you, and they're not really living a positive life. They're doing some things that your parents would not approve of. They're doing some things that you know you shouldn't engage in, but yet you've turned a blind eye to that because you'd rather have them in your acquaintance as a friend or a homeboy or a homegirl or what have you. And you don't realize that the negative things that they are doing is starting to rub off on you. You don't realize that the way they talk to their parents is the way that you're beginning to talk to your parents. You don't realize that the way they sag their pants are the way that you're beginning to sag your pants. You don't realize that the way you roll your eyes and suck your teeth, it, it came from the way they roll their eyes and suck their teeth when they're talking to someone that they should have respect for. See, negative influence is, is an invisible force that you can't see with the natural eye. It just kind of, it just kind of ease in on you in a very cunning way, and it causes for you to start acting out of character and displaying characteristics that your family members and your parents did not instill within you. Anytime you find yourself wanting to do things that you normally would not do, or wanting to say things that you normally would not say, or find yourself thinking in a way that you normally would not think, Somebody's influence is starting to rub off on you, and what you have to do is you have to take the initiative to say, I'm not going to be that way. I'm not going down that street. I'm not going to talk back to my parents. I'm not going to be a bully in school. I'm not going to follow a crowd to a gang fight. I'm not going to stay after school when I need to catch that bus and go home. I'm not going to go home and lie to my, my parents about what happened at my day in school. And I'm not going to come to school with an attitude, and I'm not going to talk back to the people here at this, at this school that are here to help me get an education. And foremost, I'm not going to put myself down and let myself down and fail me and disappoint me when I know I deserve the best that this life has to offer. Are you understanding what I'm saying? If you understand what I'm saying, raise your right hand and say, I understand what you're saying. I understand what you're saying. So you owe you. And you have to promise you that you're going to give yourself a fair chance at life. You have to promise you that you're going to take whatever licks comes at you and that you're going to keep on ticking. You have to promise you that it— that, that I'm going to graduate and I'm not going to let anything stop me from graduating. You have to promise you that if you're going to go to college, that you let nothing derail you from going to college. You have to promise you that if you want to be a football player, that I'm going to work hard, I'm going to keep my scores up, and I'm going to work hard to be the best football player I can be. You have to promise you that if you want to be an athletic— or athlete or a track star, that you work hard at it and you don't let drugs and you don't let alcohol and you don't let the games and you don't let the street life or anything else stop you from doing just that. If you want to be a doctor or a psychiatrist or a psychologist or an engineer or an architect or a police officer or an attorney or a judge, judge, you have to promise you that I will not stop until I reach my goals. I will not stop until I accomplish my plans. Say this with me: I promise me. I promise me. See, when I ask you to say that, you're saying it because I asked you to say it. But what I need you to do before I leave here this morning, or before this class is over, Is I need you to say that to yourself because you owe that to yourself. Now, in order to say I promise me and mean that from your heart, there's a couple of things that has to happen. Number one, you have to love you. You have to love you. You have to love you. What what did I say? You have to love you. Say this with me: I have to love me. I know y'all can talk louder than that because before I came in, I can hear y'all in the hall. Come on, elevate your voice a little bit. Say it with me: I have to love me. Can you say it a little louder? Can you say it a little louder? I have to love me. All right, all right. So, so, so if I gave all y'all $20 apiece, let me hear how you would say it if I gave you $20 apiece. Go ahead and try it on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3. I have to love me. All right, all right, some of y'all fell for it. Okay, the second thing is you have to believe in you. You have to believe in you. So let me ask this question: how many of you in here believe in you? You believe in you? Okay, so when I say how many of you believe in you, What does that actually mean? What does it mean to believe in you? It means that you have confidence in your ability. You have confidence in your ability to do whatever it is you set your heart and mind to do. Is that right? Yeah. So you have to love you, you have to believe in you, Number 3, you have to protect you. You have to protect you. What do I mean by protect you? You have to protect you from drugs, from alcohol. You have to protect you from peer pressure. You have to protect you from stress. You have to protect you from depression. You have to protect you from criminality. The number 1— let me see, who knows the number 1 killer for teenagers? Suicide. Who knows what that is? The number one cause of teenage death. Does anybody know? What is it? Violence. Nope, violence is number 4. Suicide. Suicide is number 2. Drugs. Huh? Drugs. Drugs is number 3. Car. Car accident. Car accident is the number one killer in this world For teenagers. And what— and how does that happen? Well, a lot of times when somebody your age get a driver's license, they're so excited and so eager to get behind the wheel of a car and drive that they're not really focusing on everything that's in their environment or everything in their peripheral. For example, texting on the phone while driving a car is an issue for a lot of teenagers. And because of that, a lot of car accidents happen. So driving while a teen is the number one cause of teenage death. Number 2 is suicide. Suicide is real. There are people that are 15, 16, 17, 18 that does not want to live. And you gotta ask yourself, what could be that bad when my life is just starting that I want to end it? But it's happening, right? It's happening. And then you gotta ask yourself, what is it about drugs and alcohol that children my age are engaging in? And it's taking their life. It's nothing about the drugs and the alcohol. It's about the fact that people don't love themselves like they should and does not protect themselves as they should and does not believe in themselves as they should. See, if you believe in you, you don't need drugs in your body to make you who you are. If you believe in you, you don't need drugs in your body to make you capable of coping with life. When you believe in you, you are enough. When you love you, you don't put drugs in your body, alcohol in your body. When you love you, you don't get behind the wheel of a car and text. When you love you, you don't drive down the street doing— through a 35 miles per hour speed zone doing 70 miles per hour, right? When you love you, there are just certain things that you're going to do and certain things you're not going to do because you love you. You love you. You believe in you. And, and the thing is, is that when you love you and you believe in you, you know what's going to happen, y'all? You're going to be your best friend. So let me say to you, never be more of a friend to someone else than you are to yourself. Never be more of a friend to someone else than you are to yourself. That's right. Never believe in someone else more than you do in yourself. Always congratulate your friends, your family members, the students around you when they do something great and they accomplish their goals, but save your best dance for you so that when you do something great, you can celebrate and you can, and you can have a party all by yourself if no one else comes to celebrate with you. And anytime you do something that you should not do and it serves as a disappointment, or you look at it like a failure or a big mess up or a big mistake, forgive you. Forgive you. Don't hold stuff in. Don't let yourself become so upset with you that you become mad at you, and then you become depressed and you don't feel like going through life like you should. And then it begins to change who you are and cause for you to not want to participate in moments that you know you need to participate in. Again, life is short. And so while you're at this age and at this stage of your life, you got to take control. You, you can't be like somebody out there that doesn't know where they're going, what they want, or what they're going to do with their life. You got to be that individual. That says, I know what I want in life. I'm going after it. I'm not going to stop until I make it happen. I know who I am. I'm called to be somebody that is great. I'm called to change the course of my family. I'm called to help take care of my mom and my dad and my brothers and sisters. I'm called to be the first one in my family to go to college, or the first one in my family to play, to play pro ball, or the first one in my family to be a doctor, or the first one in my family to be an RN, or the first one in my family to be rich. I promise me that I won't stop.
