Sophs #5 Journal--Jim Valvano--Laugh, Think, and Cry
Jim Valvano coached the North Carolina State Wolfpack to an upset victory in the 1983 NCAA men's basketball championship game. Valvano parlayed this victory with his gift of public speaking to become one of the most likable and recognizable coaches in the land. I had the pleasure of listening to Valvano speak to a group of Delaware high school basketball coaches and All Stars. Leaving the Dover banquet hall that night, I thought to myself, "This guy is going to be a world shaker." Or something like that.
Though his teams were always competitive, North Carolina State would never come close again to matching the success of the fantasy 1983 season.
Then came the tragic news that Valvano had developed cancer. Only ten years after his national championship, his body ravaged with cancerous tumors, Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs (ESPN's annual BESTS). Valvano, an inspirational coach, was probably even a better public speaker. His speech at the ESPYs will make you laugh, think, and cry, three things, that according to Valvano, you should do every day.
Then came the tragic news that Valvano had developed cancer. Only ten years after his national championship, his body ravaged with cancerous tumors, Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs (ESPN's annual BESTS). Valvano, an inspirational coach, was probably even a better public speaker. His speech at the ESPYs will make you laugh, think, and cry, three things, that according to Valvano, you should do every day.
The Jimmy V Foundation was founded in his honor. It's still active and important today, raising millions of dollars to fight cancer. Dick Vitale, a well-known television basketball broadcaster and once a close friend of Valvano, is a main P.T. (Prime Time) Player in the battle against the insidious disease.
Your assignment: listen to the speech again (click on this link) and read the words to the speech at this link. Write your journal by responding to one or more of the following prompts:
1. What are the best parts (lines) of the speech? Why?
2. Tell me about the best 'pep talk' that you've ever received. Make sure to discuss the speaker, the situation, the audience, and the speaker's technique. Cite lines from the speech if you can.
3. How do you laugh, think, and cry each day?
4. Relate a personal story to any topic discussed in the speech.
5. Analyze the speech according to pathos, ethos, and logos.
AS ALWAYS, WRITE A MINIMUM OF 25 BLOG LINES OR 250 WORDS.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO COMMENT ON THIS BLOG FOR THIS POST.
posted by JTF @ 8:38 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
My favorite and most inspiring part of Jim Valvano's Speech was the end.
“ I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I'm gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.”
This is a true statement in all its aspects. Cancer is a disease of the body and that's final. It only affects your mind if you let it. Jim Valvano had the best outlook on his situation and others in a similar situation should also understand this fact. He was a positive person and he knew more then others do when it comes to living your life.
Jim Valvano was a very famous men's basketball coach. Unfortunately, he developed cancer about ten years after leading his team to a national champoinship victory. Through him a partnership was formed with ESPN to make the Jimmy V Foundation to help find a cure for cancer. After watching the speech that he gave at the ESPYs some of the best parts of the speech was when he talked about how you are given one life and in order to live the best life you can you have to live it to your standards. Also, when he talked about how important donating and doing whatever you can to cancer foundations so that they can do their best and try to find a cure. In my opinion these were the best because I share the same views on life and learning to live as he does and I know just how damaging and the effects that cancer can have on a person. One of the best pep talks that I ever received was right before a championship volleyball tournament. My coach sat my whole team down and calmy talked to us but spoke with such power in his words and such spark in his voice that we sat and listened to every word that he said. He told us that we did not work hard all year to get to this point and just give up, instead we need to grab this oppurtunity by the horns and take full advantage of it and just go full steam ahead. Ways that I laugh everyday are by being around those people who make me smile and who I can just be myself around. Ways that I think everyday is by thinking of decisions and oppurtunities that I may or may not need in my life. Ways that I may cry each day is by mourning with those you have no one to mourn with in their life and by facing daily obstacles in my life that I may not be able to overcome.
The best pep talk I’ve ever received was when I was in Miami, Florida, for the Junior National Olympics for volleyball. It was two summers ago when I was 14 years old. I played for one of the best teams in Delaware, and I was not use to losing. My coach, Bob Trinsey, is one of the most respected and well known coach in volleyball. I have so much respect for him, because I know he is tough, but fair! Now, at the Junior Olympics, it’s the best 48 teams across the country and my team was one of them. It came up to our first match against the team that was ranked 3rd in the nation. I was nervous and confident when the game began. As the game progressed, it got harder and harder and I got upset. My coach called a time out, took me to the side, and said “When you get down on yourself, you’re making this game about you. And it’s not. It’s about all off us using our skills and leadership to play together, to make each other stronger.” Then it hit me, I was being selfish and that wasn’t fair to my team. So I picked my head up and went back out there, and we won the game. This is truly, the best pep talk I have EVER received.
1.“Remember where you came from, where you are, and where you are going” and “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” These are my favorite lines in the speech. They capture the heart and soul of Jimmy Valvano. Even though his body is riddled with cancer, he remembers where he came from, where he is, and where he is going. It is important to remember where you come from, because no matter how famous or rich we may become, we all start out in this earthly life with nothing. But just as important is his slogan of “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” This is excellent advice for everyone. No matter what your circumstance is, if you don’t give up you will not fail.
3.When you laugh, think, and cry every day, you live a full day according to Jimmy Valvano. To me he suggests with this line that it is important to laugh so we do not take life so seriously, think so we exercise your brain, and cry by considering the circumstances of those less fortunate or in physical or mental pain we should cry. How you do these three things is less important than just doing them.
4.When I was younger, I was diagnosed with Lyme’s disease after being bitten by a tick. While not as serious as Jimmy Valvano’s situation, I had to spend some time in the hospital and endure plenty of needles. Though painful and scared, I didn’t give up and I eventually got better after a month of taking antibiotics.
I personally think the best lines of the speech are when he talks about thinking, laughing, and crying each day. He makes a really good point when he says it is important to do each of these every day because they could make you a much happier person. Think about it, if you laugh every day that means that you have a good time and are enjoying life to the fullest. Some days you are just in a bad mood but if you laugh you always feel better and it always makes you feel like your in a better mood. If you think everyday then you know your working your mind which is key to a successful life. Thinking helps us be creative and imaginative throughout everyday. Think if we didn't think up and create new ideas all the time, it would be so much more boring. By thinking we come up with things like cancer research that could one day say many peoples lives. And finally when he talks about crying that is very key to a person emotional set. You don't want to be one of those people that hold in there emotions and never lets them out. Doing that is just not healthy and never outs you in a good mood. By crying we let all of the bad things just flow out of us so we can feel much better and get along with our lives. He is obviously a very motivational speaker but he also touches the heart. He inspired me to want to strive to help achieve the goal that we all wish for, a cure for cancer. This is a truly amazing man who deserves to be commended for his brave actions.
do we need this for our journals, since we dont have to post as a comment?
My favorite lines are "Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul." These lines are some of the most inspirational to have ever been spoken, especially from someone who was suffering so horribly and knew that he would most likely die from cancer. If I were in his situation, I don't think that I would have been able to speak because of the shock it would have caused me. I would not have been able to stand up in front of all those people and talk about my disease in such a calm way. His words are encouraging to all people, healthy and disabled alike. What he said felt like there was alot of meaning to those words; like as if every word he spoke came straight from his heart. His words were as truthful as anyone could be. No matter what affects the body, it cannot affect the mind, spirit, or soul.
Feelings are very important and will also explain a lot about a person’s personality. While living a healthy life it is expected to laugh, think and cry everyday regardless of age. Completing this blog made me consider what encourages me to laugh and enjoy life each day, what gets my imagination thinking, and what discourages me and makes me upset enough to cry. I am constantly laughing with my friends. My friends and I all have a way to make each other laugh even if we are having a bad day. There are countless inside jokes that we share and never fail to amuse us, however to other people our jokes may seem pointless. I always look forward to my future events shared with my friends throughout and beyond our high school years. Another point of laughter in my life is with my family. Some children do not get along with their family members. I am blessed and have a wonderful family that I can have fun with and talk to openly about any issue. There are many things that spark my imagination and get my brain churning and thinking. For instance, my daily classes at St. Mark’s requires me to think academically and challenges my mind to strive to achieve good grades. However, dance gets me thinking “out of the box.“ Each night at dance, we are given different combinations of steps and are expected to memorize them instantly. This activity gets my mind and body thinking in order to perform the movements. I also learn routines at dance that need to be memorized to showcase them later in the year. Learning 3 to 5 minute routines gets my brain functioning in order to remember and perfect them. In addition to laughing and thinking habitually, there are times I cry and feel upset. What normally brings me to tears is the pressure I often put upon myself. At times the workload between school and dance can become overwhelming. There is a balance and when priorities and schedules get out of sort, I rely on the help and guidance of my parents to get back on track and focus!
The best lines of this speech were at the end when he said.“ I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I'm gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. I chose these as the best lines because it is inspirational to me to see someone who has a terminal illness but still has the excitement and the energy to live everyday to the fullest. I can tell he must have bee a great coach because he speaks from his heart about family and enjoying life everyday. He says everyone should have a dream and to keep goals for yourself and to never give up no matter what happens. He also speaks of how you should keep things such as your family and religion close to you because they are the most important things to you. This speech is very inspirational to everyone including myself. Jim Valvano isn’t looking for sympathy but is reminding us that we should laugh think and cry everyday.
Jim Valvano’s speech was filled with many inspiring and memorable words about life that should be taken to heart. For me, I believe one of the most important parts of his speech was when he spoke about how you go from where you are now in life, to where you want and hope to be. He mentions that in order to go about doing this, one must have a certain enthusiasm about life. Living life to the fullest requires you to set goals and expectations for yourself everyday, even if this requires having to push through rough patches sometimes in order to get what you truly desire. In other words, if we go through life with a negative outlook on everything, it is a waste of time even waking up in the morning and going through your daily routines. That is not the plan God intended for us human beings. We should have people that we love, such as our family, to give us the strength and courage we need to believe in ourselves and to never give up on our dreams. When we are faced with setbacks and oftentimes failures in our journey through life, we should not simply give up the battle and quit everything you were once fighting for. In relation to Jim Valvano, he developed the atrocious disease known as cancer only 10 years after his national championship in basketball. Although he knew from this point forward there would be drastic changes, he still remained the kind-hearted, loving fellow everyone knew him to be. Another one of his remarkable phrases was at the very end of his speech when he said “I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I’m gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” This is an extremely inspirational statement for all those who are battling with cancer, or who have family members or people close to them who do. Most people battling cancer have the immediate thought established in their brain that their life is coming to an end, and basically believe they have nothing left to live for. This is not true at all. The only effect cancer has on a single person is that it slowly destroys the physical body. The only case when it can also harm the mind is when we let it get to that point. Just because someone has cancer does not mean that they are any less of the same person they were originally. Even when people pass away, their soul and mind still remains; for that part of the individual lives on forever.
Jim Valvano’s speech was filled with many inspiring and memorable words about life that should be taken to heart. For me, I believe one of the most important parts of his speech was when he spoke about how you go from where you are now in life, to where you want and hope to be. He mentions that in order to go about doing this, one must have a certain enthusiasm about life. Living life to the fullest requires you to set goals and expectations for yourself everyday, even if this requires having to push through rough patches sometimes in order to get what you truly desire. In other words, if we go through life with a negative outlook on everything, it is a waste of time even waking up in the morning and going through your daily routines. That is not the plan God intended for us human beings. We should have people that we love, such as our family, to give us the strength and courage we need to believe in ourselves and to never give up on our dreams. When we are faced with setbacks and oftentimes failures in our journey through life, we should not simply give up the battle and quit everything you were once fighting for. In relation to Jim Valvano, he developed the atrocious disease known as cancer only 10 years after his national championship in basketball. Although he knew from this point forward there would be drastic changes, he still remained the kind-hearted, loving fellow everyone knew him to be. Another one of his remarkable phrases was at the very end of his speech when he said “I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I’m gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” This is an extremely inspirational statement for all those who are battling with cancer, or who have family members or people close to them who do. Most people battling cancer have the immediate thought established in their brain that their life is coming to an end, and basically believe they have nothing left to live for. This is not true at all. The only effect cancer has on a single person is that it slowly destroys the physical body. The only case when it can also harm the mind is when we let it get to that point. Just because someone has cancer does not mean that they are any less of the same person they were originally. Even when people pass away, their soul and mind still remains; for that part of the individual lives on forever.
Some may ask if I laugh thing and cry every day. The answer is I usually do. If you know me personally I am a very funny person, and I am so humble about it. But seriously I try my best to make not only myself laugh but others around me to. I attempt to do this with a comedic blunt and sometimes sardonic viewpoint on life. I also am constantly thinking, sometime more intensely than others. From when I wake up in the morning to when I go to bed my mind is an enigma forever attempting to comprehend and solve the inner most workings of my inner psyche. I also try to express my emotions whenever they are applicable to the situation at hand. I am generally a happy person I am a bit of a reasonable optimist who attempts to find the silver lining to the mushroom cloud we call life. So when I cry it is usually out of laughter not sorrow.
We should laugh, think, and cry every day of our lives because it would make you live life to the fullest and realize what’s important. I don’t think I cry everyday but I defiantly laugh and think every day. I could be in the worst mood and still laugh at least once a day. I laugh a lot because I’m a positive person and laughing in actually very healthy. I don’t know how you can go through a day and not laugh. I also think about nonstop. I like to look at my decisions and see what some of the outcomes to them are before I do them. I also like to think about what others think of certain ideas. This has helped out a lot because you learn how to read body language. Also, you become better at holding a conversation and you become more comfortable around others. I don’t cry everyday but you can defiantly consider it as being important. If you cry over something you realize how important that person or thing really is to you. You learn what you love more than you hate. If you cry, after you’re done you feel better and then you start thinking about how you can fix the issue. Laughing, thinking, and crying everyday could change the way a lot of people think and would make everyone a better person.
The best line in the speech is when he says “Everyday you must laugh, think, and cry.” This is the best line because it is so true. To have a complete day you have to have a little bit of joy or fun, you also must think not only how to improve your life and better yourself but think about how to improve others lives. You have to show some emotion everyday because you can’t just bottle it up, that is just not a good way to deal with your problems. I laugh, and enjoy myself everyday by talking to my friends and hanging out with my family. I think everyday because I have school and I need to get good grades to improve my chances of getting a high paying job. I don’t cry everyday but I show my emotions and reflect on my day and get upset over thing I could have done better or thing that I should have done but didn’t. The best ‘pep talk’ I ever received was from my 8th grade basketball coach Bubba. In this talk Bubba was yelling but it wasn’t at us it was to get us fired up. He used his strong voice and presence to get his message across. This was just before a big game.
1. Personally my favorite part of Jim Valvano's speech is this. "I'm a very emotional, passionate man. I can't help it. That's being the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. It comes with the territory. We hug, we kiss, we love. And when people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."
3. Most people “laugh, think, and cry” in their own ways. Laughing everyday is not a problem with me and comes naturally. Some might not think it but I think a lot about life and other important things. And on rare occasions I am sad or depressed, however this doesn’t happen much anyway. You must find your own way to do these three things each day and you will lead a long, happy life with people around you who love and care about you. Jim Valvano sadly died eight weeks after his speech was given, but he was one of those few that died with a smile on their faces.
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