February 8, 2010
Grand Ballroom, Reitz Union
Anticipation has been mounting for him to arrive to the scene and everyone is anxious. People are about to attend an event that they normally would disregard as another boring ACCENT production but not this time. Twitter is a buzz with comments ranging from “I can’t wait” to “I normally would never attend a BHM event that wasn’t greek related but this will be my first”. So who has the University of Florida students turning a new leaf and even the local community giddy?
The author of three books, “CSI:NY” star and actor, Hill Harper. Over 700 hundred people gathered to listen to his wonders of wisdom, courage and advice. The audience was as diverse as the speaker himself, with an array of age groups and ethnicities filling the Grand Ballroom. The show was presented by ACCENT and co-sponsored by Black History Month and the Black Graduate Student Organization for the 2010 Black History Month’s Guest Speaker.
“Why is it that you all laughed when they said I was one of People’s Magazine 50 Sexiest People? […] That really hurt my feelings”, jokes Hill Harper once he gets on stage.
Harper was unlike any other speaker that the University of Florida had seen in years. His lecture was riddle with humor, advice and more than the spectators could have hoped for. After only three minutes of being on stage, Harper jumped down to be amongst the audience
“This is not going to be just me standing on stage giving a speech. This is going to be a conversation,” stated as Harper jumps off the stage into the audience.
While he walked amongst the crowd, he did not simply talk about himself or all the people that he knew but instead made sure that he interacted with the audience even if that meant “stepping on a few toes”.
“While he was walking he stepped on my shoe and touched my leg,” states Senior Alisha Lewis.
To ensure that the room was staying alert from the beginning of his the event he asked a vital question, “Who here has goals and dreams for your life? Raise your hand.”
Every hand rose without hesitation and while eyes scanned the room to be sure that each person had their hand risen.
Harper talked about his way of viewing life and how it can be used to lead to success. His view is that “being active architects for our own life” will lead to a more successful life. The four fundamental parts of his view were related to being an architect and building an actual structure.
The first fundamental part of life that leads to success is for each person to have a “blueprint.” A blueprint is taking all the goals and ideas from in one’s mind and placing them on paper but doing so in pencil. After asking how many people actually had their goals written on paper it was clear that very few did. Harper doesn’t believe in mistakes but instead believes that every action will lead to a “modification” in a person’s behavior. This is why it is important to write down goals, ideas and life plans in pencil that way when circumstances change a person can simply modify their plans rather than erasing them completely.
“You did something wrong, that’s not correct, it’s a mistake. Mistakes happen,” states Altina Fenelon after Harper states he doesn’t believe in mistakes. “I didn’t agree with everything he said but he does make some good points.”
Although everyone may not have agreed with every detail of what was said, it was clear that there was at least one part to benefit each person in the room as each person was neatly poised with pen and paper.
It’s important to have a “foundation” that is strong enough to support the goals and dreams a person is planning for. The key parts of a “foundation” are family, money, education, faith and discipline. Without a strong foundation, everything else will fail. Each goal and dream needs a different foundation in order for it to succeed.
“Courage is one of my favorite words. With the root of the word being ‘cour’ meaning heart,” Harper states while discussing how “framework” is crucial to succeeding.
“Framework” can be affected by a person’s environment, access to resources, and choices that a person makes. If that person has the courage to work against those odds, they will reach their full potential. Most people live within their heads but they need to stop living out of their heads and live with some ‘cour’. Once people stop doubting themselves and going with what they feel in their heart, they will then have the confidence necessary to strive toward what they wish to accomplish in life.
And finally every structure needs “doors”. Doors are there to let people in and out of a particular area, in this instance a person’s life. Although people may come into your life does not mean they are meant to stay there, which is similar to the idea of “Reason, Season and Lifetime Friendships”.
“… to let certain people into your life, a Personal Board of Directors.[…]Those are people who get you to courage. People to let out, who take you into head space and take you to F.E.A.R.(False Evidence Appearing Real).Those you let out I like to call them ‘Associates’”, explains Harper.
The people that are in your life and cause you to think instead of simply telling you what to do are the people that will allow a person to “get out of their head space and into their cour”. Those people are the ones that create a Personal Board of Directors because they give a person the needed courage and incite to do things that they would have never thought to be possible. On the other hand, there are people who do not create the same feeling, which are deemed “associates”. In actuality there are more categories for placing people than just those two but if people are placed into those two major categories it makes it easier to see how each person effects our lives.
Once his speech was over there was a question and answer session with a great deal of advice given, which was followed by a book signing for those interested. If a person did not have a copy of one of his books they were able to purchase Letters to a Young Brother, Letters to a Young Sister: Define Your Own Destiny or The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships prior to watching Harper speak or afterward. The book signing line was full of eager students, faculty and those in the local community trying to meet Harper. He not only signed books but also spoke to each person individually and shook their hand. He would sign books and if asked take pictures.
“I would rather fail at my life than succeed at someone else,” Hill Harper.
