Inspirational Stories on Life's Journeys

hello and welcome this is your host Rajiv Nadi today we'll go through two stories but let me start with the story of a young man traveling solo in his mid-20s this solo trip as an young adult took him through some countries in Europe and Africa this young man in his 20s a few years after his graduation from college and working for a while he had never traveled to Europe before and was the first time exploring the countries he wasn't so short on money but had May barely kind of earn through to sustain his solo trip he was staying around in pensioners another name for European hostels he would basically buy a pette and cheese almost every day and occasionally tasted some wine the young adult still recalls taking the bus ride from Madrid to Barcelona which was overnight his Spanish wasn't very good he sort of became friend with the fellow traveler on the bus who could speak a little bit English and he shared some bread with him while the traveler shared some wine as they engaged in a conversation and as the bus arrived in Barcelona early in the morning and it was just about day bre the young adult still remembers walking towards the last ramblas of Barcelona as the sun was coming up this was one of those memorable moments for the young adult this helped the young adult to appreciate his place in the world similarly we can all recall some memorable tricks from our lives either a different country or Bo experiencing locals cultures Traditions the young adult in this story is none other than President Barack Obama who later ran for office and became the 44th President of the United States his passion for travel continued during his presidency and is considered the most internationally traveled president while in the office the bus ride that involved sharing bread wine and discussion with another traveler was one of those moments that gave the future president a deeper sense of self and the importance of listening to one another [Music] this is the story Obama recalled in front of the audience at the World Travel and tourism Council Summit speaking as an ex president according to Obama there is something Council spacular about seeing a new place being exposed to the new ideas and experiencing a new cure traveling actually makes you grow Obama sees travel as a way to unite people Obama believes travel is about bringing people together instead of separating them out as us and them if we try to reassert hard rigid rules and not attempting to understand other people's opinions during a time when technology and information are seamless across borders not only will we fail but will see greater conflict and clashes between people travel is sometimes just the beginning of our story it's the one mode of instilling a pride of togetherness in This Global World now we come to the second story for today's video this Story begins in New York there was a birth of a young lad in Mount won New York on December 28th 1954 his early days growing up were spent in a lower class neighborhood that was surrounded with crime drugs and violence when the boy was 14 years old he dealt with the struggle of seeing his parents going through a painful divorce leaving his mother with him and his two siblings and this was a moment of involvement with gangs and getting into fights that this young life was almost getting into but his mother pushed him to stay on the right path despite the ch challenges he faced the young lad persevere his mother ensured a better future for our son by sending him to the military academy in new Windor this pivoted the young man from a life of aimlessness to one of curiosity where he would seek to find answers to find out where he fit into this world in high school he joined the football team and played as a quarterback he continued to play football in college and joined the basketball and baseball teams as well it discovered that a professional pth in sports was not for him his interests in biology and chemistry didn't pan out either after taking a challenging course both sort of daunting subjects that didn't attract his interest the young lad thought of trying political science this was his next attempt and he thought it would allow him to make a difference in the world as a lawyer this got the young man interested in hearing the stories of others leading him into the field of journalism soon the young lad came to realization maybe he should try something in the field of art during the summer position as a camp counselor at the YMCA he had his first experience performing in front of an audience when he was asked to put on a show for the kids his natural Charisma and Stage presence was undeniable a fellow Camp con recommended that he pursue acting and the young lad took his first steps into the world of Performing Arts and the young lad returned to college after summer he immediately transferred to for univ City's theater Department to study acting his first role was in the play of Pell and he would go on to have successful performances in many more theatrical Productions after a successful college career in theater the young lad made the transition to film and landed his first movie role the young lad in this story is none other than Denzel Washington the renowned Hollywood actor who has won Oscars Golden Globes Tony and Lifetime Achievement Award his first movie role was Wilma in 1977 during this movie he met his present by Denzel Washington married actress paeta peon in 1983 they have four children their oldest son John David was drafted in 2006 by the NFL's St loue ramps and pursued a career in professional football before he followed in his dad's footsteps and started acting Denzel is a devout Christian and he mentions that he reads the Bible almost every day one of Denzel's recollection after winning an award he called his mother and she said I was being filled with the Holy Spirit Denzel was being filled with the holy spirit so Denzel goes like does that mean I can never have wine again man gives you the award but God gives you the reward acting is just a way of making a living the family is life according [Music] to in the larger tempestry of Life basically do what you got to do so that you can do what you want to do these stories are sort of an inspiration that sometimes we need a nudge at the right time to correct our Direction in life well that's the two stories for today thank you [Music]