Speaking of dreams

Spent the morning at St. Joseph Catholic school in Madison. I spoke for about an hour to the middle school students in the performing arts center. They’ve been cutting out my cartoons and having to analyze them for a grade. Poor kids. Good luck with that.

Today’s talk included many of my favorite cartoons and the stories behind them. I told them about my process and some of the more memorable moments of my career. But I also let them know about my failures and how they are as important as my successes in molding me into who I am today. I also said:

1. They are amazing bright and talented kids.
2. They all have dreams inside of them
3. Like in the Parable of the Talents, they need to be servants who use the talents given to them.
4. They will face brick walls.
5. Brick walls aren’t always barriers. They sometimes are just there to see how much you really want your dreams.
6. They will fail. But that’s ok because failure can the best teacher.
7. The worst moments are the seeds for their best.
8. I believe in them.

That stuff was the pill. My cartoons and jokes were the pill pocket. I hope the message went down successfully.

Many of the students came up to me afterward and said I was the best speaker they’ve ever had.That’s high praise coming from an 8th grader. But what I what I really hope is that at least one of them will see me and say, “I can chase my dream like he did.” Because someone once did that for me. I pray I paid that blessing forward.

So thank you to the the students and staff at St. Joe. You made my morning memorable.