I woke up this morning thinking about Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old boy who gave a speech on national TV last night. He also happens to stutter.
I was proud of him.
I thought he was brave.
I thought he brought stuttering out of the closet.
I thought he might be an inspiration to other people who stutter.
I thought about how there was no way in the world I would ever be able to give a speech in front of millions of people!
But more important than all of these things was the message he conveyed. Politics aside, his reason for communicating was to talk about a man whom he admired. Brayden overcame his stuttering to get his thoughts out to the nation.
You might say, “Overcame? But he still stuttered.” He sure did, but that’s the thing. He made his speech anyway. It’s the same for all of us. Each of us gets to define what overcoming a challenge means to us.
In these two minutes, Brayden decided that he had something to say and what was more important was what he had to say rather than how he said it.
Overcoming isn’t perfection. Overcoming is getting through something the way you choose. The way you see fit.
The fact that he stuttered while making his point is irrelevant. He wanted to tell you about someone whom he admired. Stutter or no stutter, he did just that.
Here’s a link to the video: