You May Be Down, But Not Out. | Get Back Up | Rod Cate | TruthSeekah Podcast

You May Be Down, But Not Out. | Get Back Up | Rod Cate | TruthSeekah Podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIP7CzSduo8
Transcript source: YouTube captions

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without further ado we're gonna go ahead
and jump into today's discussion
my guest today is mr rod kate rod
welcome to the
true secret podcast my friend how are
you i'm doing well and it's great to be
here man looking forward to it
well we had the opportunity to meet uh
what was that a couple days ago over the
over the weekend we
my wife had a had a fundraiser for her
foundation and you came out and she's
actually the one who set this up she
heard your story and
uh she's like derek you got to have him
on the show so shout out to my wife but
it was good that we got to meet in
person
before actually doing the episode yep
yeah it was and um yeah yeah i know you
know what your wife does where she works
at that buckaroo foundation it just it's
amazing what they do out there with
those kids and the
physical therapy they do on the horses
and they invited me out
to look at everything and um i was just
amazed and blown away by what they're
doing out there what
and so the any fundraiser for the
buckaroo foundation i'm i'm more than
glad to participate in
for sure for sure and so anybody who
doesn't know about that and wants more
info just go to uh the buckaroo
foundation.org
so buckaroo foundation.org and you can
find out all the work that
they do there but yeah let's jump into
your story man it's a story of
inspiration
and uh we could just start with just
giving people an overview who you are
what you bring to the table
and uh we'll start there man okay well
i guess i mean i'll start where i am in
the present and then i'll go backwards
to kind of
kind of fill in my story um i've been a
lawyer practicing in mobile alabama for
right at almost 30 years uh married
three kids they're all
grown and older um and you know i've
lived down here as
you know for for about four about 30
years but
uh when and so i'm 50 just turned 55
in may um back in 1981 which seems like
forever ago
when i was 15 years old i broke my neck
playing high school football in north
carolina
and you know what i did was i lowered my
head too much when i made a tackle
and completely shattered two vertebrae
in my neck
badly damaged my spinal cord couldn't
move anything
go to the hospital that night they do
surgery that night
and then i'm in the hospital for a month
can't move anything can't feel anything
after about 30 days all of a sudden
you know i'm i'm in the hospital bed one
day i'm looking down at my toes and i
in my mind i'm thinking alright man i'm
going to try to move my toes and
and one one of my toes actually moved a
little bit
and that was really the beginning of you
know after that
two three weeks later i started getting
some movement throughout my body
then i went to the rehab facility for
two or three months
i actually walked out of there but you
know with i walked out there with
forearm crutches and
um you know you know it was
to say being able to walk was an
incredible thing i mean
i was incredibly fortunate and lucky um
to to to do that but i mean but you've
seen me walk i mean it's not a pretty
gate or anything but
you know the fact matters i'm i'm i'm
able to walk
and not wheelchair bound which is um
i think that's a huge difference in in
how my life has progressed
so whenever you got the diagnosis when
you and you went to the hospital they
did surgery now
did they tell you that you would never
walk again or or were they going to help
work with you how did that
uh it wasn't that bad i mean it wasn't
that absolute but it was
the chances of you walking again are not
very good
you know the doctor was not just
absolute about but um
but yeah it was it was not a rosy
prognosis that's for sure
yeah now what now what was the
you know the the process of laying in
bed
can't move and you're staring at your
toe trying to make it move and it's
almost like you have to relearn how to
do it
i don't know if it's possible and then
finally it
wiggles like how long like how long was
that process of you
seeing a glimmer of hope there and there
is a mind connection that
i can override this body with my mind
kind of thing well
and see here and there's one thing i
need to say about that too is
you know this happened was 15 years old
and i think you know the 15 year old
brain
you know i don't think the 15 year old
brain can actually
handle the magnitude of what was going
on
yeah you know what i mean i mean it's
like that happened today you know when
you've had your full life experiences
probably completely different yeah
probably would completely different the
way i handled it
but but back then you know you're you're
young
you don't you don't really know anything
else and so here you are in this
situation
and you know i guess the first you know
the first week after the surgery i mean
it's i i it kind of runs together but
you know at that point it was just
you know you're just there you're kind
of like a sack of potatoes
with a head on it you know laying in the
bed
i mean you look at your body you know
they come in every day you know the
doctors would come in with this
like a safety pin to prick you around
your body to see if you have any feeling
and you
you know you watch the safety pin hit
your skin
and you don't feel anything and you're
like god this is bad
um and then you know maybe in it two
three weeks you just
you know you you're you you're wondering
man am i ever going to be able to move
again
and then then the mind shifts to well
you know what can i do to try to you
know to try to move this forward
but i mean and here's the problem though
with the spinal cord injury
it just it really depends on the
severity of the injury
i mean if you have a spinal cord that's
severed you know you're
there's nothing that's ever gonna
change that i mean you can't have
surgery to reattach a spinal cord
and and my what happened with mine is it
was bruised really badly i mean it was
damaged and bruised
i got on this high dose of steroids to
try to reduce the swelling of the spinal
cord
and what happened is when the swelling
went down
i think that's what i think what
happened was that nerves were able to
then to make it through that damaged
area and
that's when um the movement came back
and so i'm laying there in the bed and
i'm
you know i'm just thinking
you know what can i do here to try to
move and
what you do you just go in your mind you
just go through the
okay i'm going to try to move my foot
and
you know your mind does it and then like
the nerve went through the
damaged area the spinal cord then it hit
my foot and then
one little toe moved and it was the it
was the little toe beside my pinky toe
on my left foot
and it moved just barely i mean it
barely buds
and then i thought man it was this i
mean was this something like a spasm or
something or did
am i really moving and then i did it
again and and it did it
and so that was a pretty big day yeah
and you you talk about this whole
experience in your book you wrote a book
about this right
i did it's called get back up and um
yeah i talk about all of it and you know
i kind of talk about my career as
being a lawyer with a disability i talk
about some of the cases i've tried but
you know one thing about the book is
it's not
a rainbows and candy-coated book it
really goes into
kind of what it's you know what it's
like and what the mindset was and what i
what i went through you know in in
when i broke my neck and and the rehab
and
and kind of getting back into the real
world um
you know um so it's it's a it's a pretty
um you know realistic view
of what happened and you talk about your
mindset
and one of the the words that that jumps
out in the book is
uh being optimistic optimism that was
what
helped you to get through that but you
also talked about that that was
something that you've just always
kind of been it's just it was just you
know a part of who you are
is that something that that helped you
was it was it uh
gratitude as well like i think i kind of
think those those go hand in hand
um yeah it's hard it's hard to to be
that in that situation though
yeah yeah it is um and i guess once
again i think it goes back to the age
too
um you know being 15 you know my my
mindset was man i got to get out of this
hospital and rehab facility and and
plug back into the real world and get
back to what
what what uh you know my life and it
what
you know i knew it wasn't going to be
the same because
so much of my life revolved around
playing sports i mean that
you know i was um you know as
this happened when i was 15 years old
only a sophomore in high school and
now i was already the starting free
safety and the varsity team was it was
i mean this happened actually before the
season started so i was going to be the
starting quarterback i
played basketball baseball i did all
that stuff
and that was over and then i mean i knew
that was over
um and so all i'm trying to do is get
back
you know get back and try to get my life
back on on track get get
back to the as normal as it possibly
could
and i but i do think that i mean to
answer your question about optimism
um yeah you know one thing
at least for me you take into an injury
like
this the person that you are you know
um i was always i was a confident person
i wasn't over i wasn't like a cocky i
mean i wasn't one of those cocky
you know sports people that
thought they were so great
um but but i was confident and
and but i was very optimistic i was very
um
i mean i loved life i mean god dawg
there was probably nobody that loved
life more than me
going into this um and so i wanted to
get back i wanted to
my whole goal was man let's get to where
you could walk out of here
so you can you can start your high
school life
because this happened this happened in a
um inter-squad scrimmage
before the season started so i had not
even entered high school yet i'd come
from the ninth grade junior high
and so my first steps on
the campus at south stokes high in
walnut cove north carolina
was the monday after the thanksgiving
holiday
so and that that's the first time i
actually became a high school student
but um but but you haven't but having a
good attitude um man it
you know to overcome something like this
i don't think you could be a pessimist
um and be mad at the world
um and and recover
and and move on in your life well that's
what you got the first thing
first thing that comes to mind were you
talking about you know your your age
kind of
helped you because you're optimistic and
you're you know you still got a life to
live and all that kind of stuff but a
lot
of people especially teenagers at that
age you
turn into a victim you look for reasons
to complain and
and some people get stuck in that so
that was uh
you know beautiful that you you didn't
get get caught up in that that you were
optimistic
you know from the get-go because a lot
of people again i'm a victim
you know mad at god and things like that
and
and they carry that the rest of their
life and so the optimism
early on helped you i would say for a
quick
speedy recovery right yeah yeah
definitely and two things too i was
probably in the best shape of my life
up until i've been practicing all summer
and we had finished
this happened it was called we did
football camp where everybody wants to
play football
goes to and lives at the high school for
a week and this was the culmination of
that
so i was in incredibly good shape um
and that that helped too but you know
but back
on the you know that we're talking about
you know people you know
thinking they're the victim you know but
but
this is how i've always thought about
this for me
i did i mean not that i did
something wrong but you know
i i i actually participated
in this injury in that i came up to make
the tackle i mean i wasn't trying to
like spear the guy i hurt the guy that i
tackled
but i mean i did i lowered my head too
much and and the thing about it is i
mean here i'm young
i'm trying to you know be impressive and
i really wanted to hit this guy hard you
know i want to bring him down
but um and and so i like i
did it i i was a participant in it now
had i been in a automobile and some
drunk driver came
and ran into me yeah where it was
not like not not any of my fault
you know i don't know how i would have
handled that differently you know
because then you do
you might have the victim mentality it's
that i didn't do anything
why why did this have to happen to me
yeah and so
i've never felt the victim mentality and
it may be
because i was a participant in
what i did yeah yeah so it's perspective
yeah but i see what you're saying too um
i guess the the uh the tackle you did
that's illegal now you you know that
that would be called targeting
yeah yeah yeah not only without what i
was going to be
paralyzed from the neck down i would
have also been thrown out of the game
yeah illegal targeting
yeah yeah couldn't have played the first
half of the next game
but you were a uh quarterback right and
they just had you in on defense
well i was i was starting free safety i
mean i was um
that that's what my starting position
was going to be going into it but
you know i was working my way to be the
starting quarterback and probably would
have been before the season started but
but no no that i was a defensive player
yeah
yeah yeah just um
you know that whole story and then being
able to put it in a book and
i mean have you ever have you been like
how has this helped you later in life
as far as being optimistic uh
you know the same place that you draw
power from right
how have you been in other situations
whether it was with work
or uh anything like that that you had to
be optimistic and it really
helped you well yeah i mean i think it's
i think one thing that i mean i think
the best way to answer that
is what this this did this
this whole the injury the resulting
disability
um you know the fact that i've made i
was made the recovery i did i've got
such a
love for life and i guess that's similar
to optimism
yeah but man i just um
man i love being alive and i love doing
things and i love doing as many
different things as i can
and um so that's i think that
that really shows well if you have
something like this happen to you
that completely changes your life um
then i mean it does it gives you this
this
at least to me and instead of and i
guess as to which way you want to go
i guess something that like this could
happen to you and you go the bad way and
you like you talk about you can be
play the victim and you're like why does
this have to happen to me why me
this sucks my life sucks um or
you can say man i'm fortunate that it's
not as bad as it was
or bad as it could have been and um i'm
gonna get everything out of life that i
possibly can
yeah and this is something where you've
you you've let your setbacks be a
slingshot
to propel you into your your destiny and
what you're supposed to be doing and so
um writing the book obviously through
having conversations this
stuff kind of just pours out of you um
you also have a podcast
you want to talk a little bit about that
and just some of the talks and
and stuff that you do on there yeah yeah
because and i'll tell you what i said
i started the podcast kind of when the
pandemic started and
things got a little slower at the you
know
at the office because you know the
courthouses were closed and that kind of
stuff
and and i really you know i wanted to do
something
something else um you know the book was
good
um but but i tell you why i kind of
really want to do the podcast
and and because like in the book
and i say this a lot you know that like
one of the things you do you
no matter what happens in life you just
can't quit you know you can't quit you
got to keep moving forward
but then i thought you know man that
might be just an easy thing to say
and it sounds like oh it's a great thing
to write in a motivational book don't
quit
well i mean how anybody can write that
or say it but
but i want to i want people i want to
have people see examples of it i mean i
think i am an example of it okay
but so what i want to do on my podcast
it's called rocket motivation
is i wanted to bring guests on there
that
have gone through some tough times
that have handled adversity and that
haven't quit and then
so i wanted to so have me interview them
or you know
really not interview but just talk kind
of like they're doing it and
let them tell their stories and how
they've overcome it and let them give
advice
to the listeners so they can get
something out of it so you got
instead of one person like me just
talking all the time
it's great because i get other people
i'm glad to tell their stories
um and and the great thing about there's
so much the diversity of guests
and the different the stories they've
got i mean
it's it's you know really it can be bad
stuff like overcoming cancer
um and but there i've got people that
have
you know just have had you know tough
tough growing up like
one of my favorite episodes is a a guy
who actually went to the same high
school
as me who i did not know he was
five years younger than me but um he was
a
a black kid and his dad
was the the biggest drug dealer in
stokes county where we grew up
and so he had all that you know his dad
gets busted when he's five years old
and spends most of his childhood in jail
and he comes on tells his story about
how that didn't you know how he overcame
that
and so it's you know i've got people on
there that have lost
you know that that are lost limbs that
are
you know you know amputees that keep
going there i mean
it's just so many different you know
overcoming diseases
and just you know just um
insecurities and you know that's thing
some
some are really seem like more profound
than others but one thing i say on there
is
we're not going to compare disabilities
we don't compare problems
we just tell it and i think that's what
makes it a really interesting podcast
yeah it's awesome so rocket motivation
yep and and then the name comes from my
nickname for my college buddies is
rocket which is
of course somewhat ironic because you
think a rocket something that's very
fast and
i don't walk very fast so it's kind of
one of those ironic nicknames you know
like
a large guy they call him tiny yeah
for sure um talk a little bit about
recapturing a dream or finding um
purpose in life because i guess you know
you you were
really big into sports and i'm sure
that's where you saw your future headed
right
and then you're you have to recapture
the dream you have to you have to kind
of get another dream
and find people yeah like how was that
journey
yeah you're right about that because but
i mean i was a very good athlete but
and i knew i was probably good enough to
play football at the college level
i don't know what level but somewhere in
the college level but i mean i
would never i mean never dreamed that my
my
career was going to be playing in
professional sports but i
i was good enough to probably play in
college but but but that was such a big
part of my life but
but also even before this i always did
well in school grade wise
um and that continued
you know i actually well it's not like i
focused more on my grades or my studies
after this i guess i kind of did it
about the same
um but i i'm but i was fortunate enough
to actually i graduated valedictorian
from my high school
and i gave him a valedictorian speech
they had the stage set up on the
football field and it was
right where i broke my neck right on the
same spot that's where i gave my
valedictorian speech
but but so you know as far as the you
know
then figuring out like so what what's it
going to be now
um you know i really didn't know what i
wanted to do i
i just i knew that i mean i was going to
go to college
and um but but as far as career-wise i
didn't know but i did know
though that you know making
you know doing well in college was going
to be
an important part of my life
um you know because i mean i
i guess i understood more after this
that
that okay sports is no longer going to
be your ticket to college
um so you know you gotta
you gotta um you know you gotta do well
academically
you know to to get in there and then you
gotta figure out what you wanna do i
mean
i didn't know what i mean i'm probably
like most teenagers still
um i still didn't know exactly what i
wanted to do as far as career-wise but i
knew
i wanted to do something something good
you know something be a professional
something or you know i didn't know if i
want to be a lawyer a doctor
or engineer you know i just didn't know
um
even when i went to law school i wasn't
sure that that's really what i wanted to
do but
i just i went because i wasn't ready to
go get a job when i graduated so i just
i kept you know went on to school but um
you know one thing that's interesting
too
is though that it's really amazing
though how much
as much as my life was completely
changed man when i got back to school
and went through high school and then
even to college
you know it really um i kept doing the
same thing other than playing sports
um a lot of it was still the same same
friends
same you know same everything say same
same desire to do well um
same optimism i mean it just i just can
kind of continue down with my life
do you still uh do you still have a
passion for football do you still follow
it do you watch it go to games anything
like that
i do i mean i i like football i mean i
like all sports
but um yeah i still um you know
especially you know how it is especially
living down here college football you
know you
watch it all the time and you know and i
guess been living where we are i'm a
saints fans because we're
so close to new orleans so yeah yeah i
don't
i don't um you know like not watch it or
have some aversion to it because of what
happened
you know one of my sons played football
for you know two three years when he was
small but
he didn't he didn't go on in high school
and you know that's one thing i was
i i was not going to pressure put any
pressure on any of my
sons to play football um if they wanted
to find but i was not going to
pressure them into it or even
you know i mean i may have suggested
playing but
man because if something would happen to
them and if i would have put pressure on
to do
that that would not have been very good
yeah
yeah um what what are some of the
opportunities that open up for you now
with with having a podcast and having a
book and being
able to share your story are you doing
uh motivational speaking
and things like that yeah you know
before the pandemic kid i was kind of on
a roll i'd spoken to
i went up to east tennessee and spoke to
some students at two small colleges one
tennessee wesleyan university
and then one tuscalon and so it was kind
of getting going and then it just you
know with the
with the pandemic it kind of shut it all
down but
that's one thing i need to do is to get
back into that because i
really really like doing that and um
i mean that that's so much fun to get up
in front of people and then tell your
story
um and hopefully help people which is
what the podcast is about too you're
trying to help people
so yeah i want to do i don't want to do
more of that but but you know
but part of that too and with the
podcast too is
you know my career is being a lawyer
that's what puts bread on the table
and that's got to come first um and so
but there's there's still there's enough
hours in the day to try to do everything
yeah for sure for sure i mean you know
having a sense of fulfillment you know
doing
what you love to do and obviously that's
inspire people
and that's helped people and i think
your career is
doing the same thing you're actually
able to help people with your career too
which
you know that's as far as being
fulfilled or having a dream
you know it doesn't matter how it comes
being able to serve and help people
definitely is fulfilling yeah yeah
absolutely
so i mean i i guess we got to go there
was because i have you on the podcast
you know we cover spiritual and
paranormal topics and stuff like that
and so because you're on this show
have you ever had any i mean obviously
your life is a miracle
your life is a testimony is a a sign and
a wonder in and of itself but
as far as uh dealing with the
supernatural have you ever had any any
encounters like that
you know and i know this was good this
had to come up in the podcast because i
know
i've listened to several of you and i
was and i was thinking i was
you know before coming on like god i
hope i have something to offer
because i i might be one of the
straightest you know linear thinkers
that you've ever had on
on your podcast but you know you know
and i'll tell you i write a chapter and
i have a chapter in my book and i was
going to not put it in
but it is about religion and my thoughts
on religion i know that's not the same
thing
as what you're talking about in
spirituality because there is a
difference
um but you know i don't i've not
had any just you know
experiences like kind of supernatural
type stuff but but i i tell you though
though it has
you get it having an injury like this
one thing it does it puts you more in
touch
with your body in that
you know you you know when something's
not right you know
you can feel it um you know there's some
days i can walk better than others and i
don't know why that is
you know it's just like i think you know
i think i think your brain
is god at your brain and this is brought
by and
you know this and your your brain is
just
it is an amazing it's such
i mean it's more than just an organ i
mean in your body
i mean your brain um the way it can
control
things there where you don't even um
you know you you don't you're not even
conscious of some of the things that
that your brain can do like it's like
why all of a sudden
is am i having more trouble walking this
day i mean i didn't i'm not
i didn't do anything different this day
than yesterday where
walking was a lot easier but something's
going on today and so
so i can feel things that that are
you know i guess i'm more in touch with
my body physically
but but i do i i think
when this happened and then living like
this living with a disability you know i
think one thing you do is or at least i
do
is i've become kind of more
philosophical in life
and i think what i mean by that is i can
kind of step
back from things um and it doesn't mean
i do the right thing all the time by the
way
but but i can i think i can look at
things a little differently you have a
different perspective
when you when this is how you go through
life versus how
i think other people you know
that don't have physical disabilities go
through their life
you you can you kind of look at
situations maybe a little different
but but although people do may not have
physical disabilities i mean you know
they can have all kinds of things going
on in their life that you don't know
about but
but i think i have become somewhat more
spiritual in that
you know you just think about you know
why things happen
and i mean is there a source is there a
source of why things happened
i mean did this did me breaking my neck
did
it was that you know
it was is that some part of some plan i
you know
and it okay it's hard for me to get my
head around that i'll be honest
um but you know i thought about that
some and you know you just
here's one thing though it's not that i
need answers
i don't need answers i i mean it is what
it is but
um you know i like to sit i mean i will
sit there i will ponder
at times and think just you know what
what's the universe all about what what
why why do things happen how does it all
fit together
you know that kind of stuff yeah yeah i
mean
if you're looking for you say you don't
need answers but when you ask the
questions you know you get the answers
and
and and even if the answer is just
seeing
um hi everything fits or
even just your own story like you know
one thing leads to another
and uh um being orchestrated and and i
think
for me that that goes back to i would
say gratitude
um because i'm thankful for even all of
the bad stuff that happened that
led me to meet somebody that led me to a
career
in this and when it was happening or
when you were going through it obviously
you know you talk about being optimistic
obviously
it wasn't easy but um you know
moving from victor victim to vic victor
you're able to look back and have a
different relationship with
some of those setbacks in your life and
you see it as something that was
not a um you know a setback but a slang
shot into what you're supposed to be
doing because if it didn't happen
you wouldn't be here and um for me i i
just
you talk about thinking about that and
just doing the life review kind of thing
i'm thankful for all the you know the
the things that's happened in my life
that
when i was going through them trust me
it's a prayer god get me out of this
what are you doing
i don't want to be here all that kind of
stuff but now looking back
20 years removed i'm so thankful and
grateful for
these different hard hardships that that
i've been through because
you know it creates character as the
scriptures say
right well and that's you know and
that's the thing too all right
let's let's suppose this this accident
didn't happen i suppose i didn't break
my neck
i mean what path would i have gone to
you
you never know i mean i may have three
years later
been killed in a traffic accident and
you know and it's like
um so so
you know you don't you just you just
don't know what what else
what may have happened and um i mean but
this is one thing that i i kind of
struggle with and
um i mean i don't know if this is i'll
just
i don't know if this makes any sense or
does any good for the
for the show but you know it's like
all right so that ha so i break my neck
um
i mean was that was that caused by
anything
i mean did something cause that or was
that was it was it preordained from my
birth that when i
turned 15 years old i was going to be in
a football accident that caused me
to be paralyzed my neck down and then be
physically disabled the rest of my life
was that
i mean is that or do things i mean
is your life basically structured and
pre-ordained that
no matter what you do or that is what's
going to happen
or
or was this just something randomly that
happened
i mean maybe that that's a those are
some i guess deep questions
but hey that's why we're on the true
secret podcast yes
i mean i i interview a lot of people who
who claim to know
i don't think i don't know that they do
they give an opinion
and it helps them but it always draws a
red flag when it's something bad that
happens right it's a setback it's
something
like why would god allow this or
create this in my life you know and so
when when bad things happen
then that that talk gets a little bit
scary now if it's a good thing i won the
lottery i was able to help people you
know all of that
but i guess you know in a sense i think
you have to move from
looking at what happened to you as
winning the lottery
and um at least for me you know and and
for me that helps me
uh walk in that level of gratitude that
whatever happens i can see the good in
it
i can see the bad two right because you
know everything has both in it the
positive and the negative but being able
to
extract the positive out of those bad
negative situations that's where the
the real miracle lies i believe
yeah and i i like one thing i can say
from what happened to me i mean
it's made me a stronger person
um internally i mean i i there
there's really nothing i think that
could happen in my life that i couldn't
handle
you know i mean um i mean you know it
can
i mean you know life i mean things can
happen again that can even get worse
exactly where they are now though that
that's the one thing it's not like you
only
if you have one bad thing happen in your
life it's not like okay well
i've had mine it's over i mean you know
you can keep having them you know but um
but like i see like
i had one one of my guests on my podcast
um
a girl named jessie strawham she was i
think
17 18 19 years old when she was in a car
wreck
and she was on a motorcycle and she's
a paraplegic and she tells her story and
you know she's out there i mean she
busts it every day working out and
um you know um
and you know she's got a great attitude
but but i i
you know i would i would hope to think
that my attitude would have
would be the same had
you know i say i say i was not as
fortunate and i was
and i was in a wheelchair the rest of my
life um
you know i i like i would like to think
that i would because of my personality
and
um i would still be optimistic and do
the best i i
can but you know i i don't know because
i had that
i didn't face that exactly um and so
it's kind of interesting i mean
i know there was a guy up in birmingham
he was playing in an ivy league school
this was i don't know five six years ago
well he he
did kind of the same thing i did but um
he's lucky to even be alive he's i mean
he'll never move from the neck down
i mean he's got a trach and everything
and you know you wonder
you know i've always thought about that
guy what if i were him
what if that happened to me would would
i be
as i'm you know optimistic would i
be as a lover of life that as i am i
you know i don't know i'd like to think
that i would be but
you know until you're tested you just
don't know yeah
i know right we all everyone knows what
what they do until they get faced with
that situation
you know um yeah i want to ask you a
little bit too
and i'm getting this from from your book
so i'm not saying this
but you can ask me anything okay wide
open
well yeah i'm not asking this but you
get asked this a lot when people are
are you know talking to you and asking
you about your cerebral palsy
and they think that you have cerebral
palsy and that kind of disability
uh and you have a certain way that you
respond to that and they say bless your
heart
and those kind of things and uh what do
you what do you say to those people when
they when they
uh well first of all everybody
is i mean people that that say those
things to me or ask me
they're being nice you know they're just
you know and i think it's naturally to
be
inquisitive but but normally how it
happens and it doesn't happen much
anymore
mainly because the way it would happen
would be um
my old law fir or the firms i used to
work in they um i would have to you know
park and walk across the street and
you'd see a bunch of people
now now i park in a parking deck and i
come in the back way so i don't
run into people as much but when i do
yeah i've had
so many times that so do you have
cerebral palsy do you have multiple
sclerosis
that kind of stuff and you know and
you know i when it happens you know i'm
just i'm just walking into work man i'm
just ready to start my day
you know and then so you think okay well
now i gotta
i gotta deal with this but it it's
and it's tim it's usually how it's
somebody if if i'll say you know no no i
don't have cerebral palsy i had a spinal
cord injury
and then their typical response is well
well
you know i actually because my brother
has cerebral palsy or there
they've always got some reference point
it's just it's usually not that someone
just out of the blue comes up and
it and basically you say hey what's
wrong with you you know
that that's not how it how it is um but
but it's the the bless your heart man
that was um
i had never had a bless your heart like
right to my face before
until i wrote about that in the book
that my son and i were down at the beach
at a restaurant and i got up to go to
the restroom and waitress walked by and
just kind of shook her head and gave it
the old bless your heart
and you know the thing about a bless
your heart is that that
it makes you like so you're walking to
the bathroom and first of all you think
god
i must look like i'm just horrible
walking
like i'm getting ready to fall down on
every step if she thinks
i need to bless your heart and it just
makes you feel like oh you poor thing
you know and that's not what it's about
this whole poor thing
you know you know that day
i think it was that day where you know
one thing and
i probably do do some physical things i
shouldn't do
like get in the ocean um you know i can
swim in a pool
fine now but i'm not a strong swimmer
that i once was so
you know how the ocean is if it's rough
you can it can take you out to sea
but you know so we're in there um
you know just getting knocked down and
all that
kind of stuff and so here i am doing all
this physical
stuff at the beach that day and then i
go to the restaurant and i go walk to
the bathroom and i get a bless your
heart
and you're like and you feel like you
feel like hey
hey you know what you know i do more
than
just this you know yeah there's more to
me than this
than than when you see me walking
and i know i'm walking with a cane and
it looks like i'm struggling and
and sometimes i am but um but i've kind
of gotten used to it
and um you know it's like you're
thinking
you know i i i'm a lawyer
i i'm very active and you're giving me a
bless your heart
like oh man but anyway but all i did was
smile and said thank you and walk
yeah well there's a there's a lot of
people like that where they
you know they only see somebody's
disability their hang up their
shortcoming
or what makes them different and they
miss a lot of opportunities they miss a
lot of friendships and beautiful
conversations
at the very least uh because maybe
they're afraid
you know maybe they're afraid that uh
that this person's different
or you know someone who has a speech
impediment just not going to understand
them or or they're going to have to
be hard of hearing so they'll almost
pretend that that person
isn't isn't even there and so that's
something that a lot of people have to
have to get over um we're seeing people
that are different and
and we can go as far as even you know um
somebody from a different race you know
and things like that and not
wanting to know somebody somebody from a
different um
you know job background um economical
background
financial status you know and and having
these preconceived notions and not
wanting to get to know somebody or even
talk to them because they
only see that thing that's on the
surface that person in the wheelchair
that person who
you're gonna have to listen a little bit
closer to them when they when they talk
or whatever the case is and so
getting past that threshold um usually
makes for some some really really
beautiful opportunities if we learn how
to do that and not everybody learns how
to do that
yeah no yeah you could not be more
correct with that and it's
and you know the actually the last
podcast i did on my show
it was a guy and he's from he's from
greece
and he was born with they called
craniofacial abnormalities
he was born with double cleft lipped his
his
his skull fused too early and so he had
30 surgeries on his face
growing up until he was 18 years old and
he also has loss of hearing
and so i mean the podcast was very
difficult to do because
he could hear me but you know with
somebody with with hearing loss they
don't speak as plain
plainly and so but but i loved having
him on there because what you just said
is exactly his story
is he's he's growing up kids are making
fun of him
they don't you know you don't engage
with someone like that
because they're different um but his
story
is unbelievable i mean and he's just
i mean i mean i'm so glad that that he
came
on um i mean it was just
you know to have somebody like that to
tell their story about going through
their life
where your face is is not normal yeah
and man could you i mean imagine that
you know growing up and just always
being
teased and you know felt sorry for
and he's he's done incredibly well yeah
i love
i love hearing those stories and and
again i think that's what my podcast is
forward to especially with
religious ideas and stuff and i catch a
lot of flack for
just talking to anybody about their
their spiritual spirituality and their
religious
beliefs and stuff like that because even
within that notion it's like
hey you can you know like attracts like
and you can only
talk to people who who believe just like
you
whether it's religious or philosophical
beliefs or whatever the case is
and so i've kind of opened that up to
okay we definitely have our differences
but let's
find what we have in common and let's
double down on that and kind of build
upon that and that
for me because i've been able to do it a
lot of people look at what i do is like
wow it's just big grandiose thing and
i'm just having
conversations with people and not
judging them or jumping to a
preconceived notion or whatever the case
is but
it has made for some really amazing
conversations that i wouldn't have had
even from my religious
upbringing or hey you can't be friends
with those kind of people or whatever
the case is and so once we move past
that threshold
we step into a whole new world of
opportunity
right well that's one thing i like about
my podcast too is that
like yours you just get to meet so many
cool
people with incredible stories
and you know i think i mean i think
everybody's got a story and it's just
man it's just fun to to listen to people
talk about you know what they've been
through in their lives yeah
yep yeah that's the thing just being
able to talk to people and
and having a podcast or a platform you
know it
it opens the door for that of some
something i would have never been able
to do i talk
i talk and this is kind of crazy there
was this uh this lady who came on and
she wanted to to talk she wrote a book
and her big thing was about how to
communicate telepathically with
with your animals like you're like your
animals tell you when
when they want to go outside or when
they hung when they're hungry they look
at you
and they tell you what they want it was
kind of a weird discussion but i said
hey let's journey down that path right
and so we may have had that discussion
for like 15 minutes and then
eventually we started talking about her
faith and then we would go for the next
hour and a half
talking about her faith in christ and i
found out that we had more in common
than i thought that i was going to run
out of questions about
you know the animals or whatever the
case was and so i would have never
been able to have this beautiful
conversation with this lady about her
faith
and the the beautiful mystery of christ
in in her life and
unless i would have said yes to this you
know strange conversation for the first
15 minutes
right well and i think that's what's
what and that may be kind of a problem
with what's going on in the world today
is people don't communicate they don't
just sit down
um with somebody and and talk to them
i mean there's just you know i mean
there's so many good stories out there
and i think what you said earlier about
preconceived notions about you see
somebody and they're
they're different yeah and you just you
know your your initial
you know reaction to that as well
they're different than i'm i'm just
i don't want to engage i want to you
know
yeah i'm gonna go move on to somebody
just like me yep
yeah and that's huge but we're i think
like you said we're at a time where
we have to learn from our mistakes and
that because that's a mistake
to you know have a prejudice or
preconceived notion about about a person
um something when we we judge people
even unaware and it's usually the first
thing that that that comes off
and for you obviously it's something
that okay this guy has cerebral palsy
or something and so now that's who they
think you are and they don't know that
you
are a a writer you're an author you
uh you're a lawyer right you have all of
this this awesome stuff that you do
because they only see that one thing
and and i have to speak from experience
if not this is just a notion
or a theory it's happened for me for in
on so many different levels of moving
past
like you said wanting to find the people
that are just like you
especially with social media and things
because now we have these echo chambers
where
we add people we talk and communicate
with people who
only believe like us and uh
and i think it's healthy to find people
that are different and have a different
opinion
doesn't mean that they're right it's
just it's just you know
getting out of that echo chamber and uh
and and
celebrating differences you know
well that's the thing we can't do in
this country now so you can't celebrate
differences
if you if you do not agree with
everything certain
a certain group thinks then you know
there's something wrong with you you're
wrong
and um that that's that's a problem and
it and it really is a problem that needs
to get fixed
but you know maybe if everybody will
listen to the truth seeker podcast then
get over this
yeah yeah it's definitely helping a lot
of people it's and it's helped me
you know and uh and that's what it
that's what it's about
you know helping some somebody be able
to enjoy life and have those beautiful
conversations
and uh and i have to just go back and
look at my life and
and see some of the the the people and
um situations that i've i've judged
you know and it's some of those just
first first looks
or something or someone says something
about somebody
and and that what that person said is
every time i see that person i think of
this this uh whatever it is that's not
who they are
right and so that that blocks you from
getting to know that person but once you
get past it there's an epiphany oh man
i can't believe i almost didn't get to
know this person because of
what somebody said about them or what
stood out to me because they looked like
this or that you know yeah well and one
thing and then
on on that point or at least
tangentially to that point
is you know one thing that happened with
me is
i've learned and i think i've learned
through this and through some humility
um because you know when you know
even even after my injury and even
though i've been you know have this
disability since i've been 15 years old
i still have a lot of confidence in
myself and i think because i had it
before and it just didn't go away
but you also have humility i mean you
know there's a lot of humility that i've
had
in my life after this and one thing
through that you
i've learned is you've got to
not take yourself so seriously you're
not as important
as you no one is as important as they
think that they are
and you've got to be able to laugh at
yourself yeah you've got to be able to
first of all but in order to laugh at
yourself though you've got to
get to the point where you realize you
know what i may be wrong about this
i may have made a mistake i may have
this may be completely wrong what i've
just said and then you got to be here
but it's those people that can't laugh
at themselves then they
then they try to try to rationalize what
they did or their answer to something
like well it's not really wrong
but you it's just the way you interpret
it but i mean
if you if you can you got to get to the
point in life where
you can you've got to understand that
you are not right all the time
you know other people's views actually
may
be correct or may make sense and
um you know and so i think if we could
all learn to laugh at ourselves
and not take ourselves so seriously and
i think
that that's one thing to because of my
injury that
i i've been able to do that throughout
my life
yeah me too and and people it's weird
too because people
want like a hard stance on every subject
and there's no like gray area there's no
in between there's no like
hey i see why they believe that or i see
why they
uh you know practice that or whatever
the case is and so like
you know putting yourself in their shoes
uh quite literally
um it helps and um
you know whether it's politics or or
religious
affiliation or how someone grew up or
whatever and and being trained and
taught and i see why so i don't
get mad or judge that person because i
understand why they believe that
and hopefully that's the thing everybody
comes from a different background i mean
and you if you go through your life
thinking everybody's
everybody should think like me well but
you
you grew up i mean you know your family
your parents
your you know how you were raised
i mean that that that's how that's how
you
you know think and from your perspective
but everybody didn't have that
perspective and and
your perspective just because it's yours
doesn't mean it's correct
yeah and so you just but the problem
today is you can't
you can't have a conversation about
anything because if like if you question
somebody on something say okay
i understand that's how you feel about
it or that's your position
about it but what do you think about
this
on why i think you may be wrong oh well
you're done i mean you can't even the
conversation ends
that's that's one of the big problems
yeah
everybody thinks that their opinion is
like you said the only the only opinion
so
yeah yeah we got to start having
conversations these hard talks
rod uh appreciate the talk man i i
enjoyed hearing your story and
and and seeing what you you do and uh
and everything that you bring to the
table
go ahead and let those people know uh if
they want to get a copy of your book or
they want to check out your podcast what
is the best place for
people to go to do that yeah they want
the book the books on amazon just you
know bought go on amazon and um just
type in um get back up um
and it'll it'll pop up or put get back
up and then my name rod
kate and it'll certainly pop up and they
can just order it off amazon
and then for the podcast rocket
motivation it's
anywhere you listen to podcasts it's you
know how
how it is it's itunes it's spotify
it's it's um you know just google rocket
motivation it'll get you there yep so um
but anyway so that that's
that's what's going on out there man and
um you know it's been
uh of um you know i was
i was a little nervous coming on today
because i didn't know if i was gonna be
able to offer anything
you know you know and um it's been it's
been good man it's been a good good talk
well yeah i mean you know we talk about
a lot of far out subjects and you know a
lot of people want to talk about
miracles and
and supernatural and stuff like that and
um and i remember somebody even just the
other day posted something on face
facebook about miracle science and
wonders and and i just
you have to understand that your life is
a miracle
a sign and a wonder to somebody else and
and uh and i think that that's what your
story is it doesn't mean about you have
all these
crazy far out experiences listen my life
is a crazy far out experience you know
the fact that i'm still here the fact
that i was able to keep
moving and move forward and i have a
smile on my face and i have a story
to tell not everybody does you know and
and and
you know you you're definitely fortunate
and to be able to pay that forward
you know that's what it's about so i
appreciate you coming on and just being
able to hear
your story man and uh very encouraging
for sure to let people know that
it doesn't matter um you know what your
setbacks are what's against you that
you know you have the ability to to
create your future
and uh and to enjoy life and i think
that's what it's about
yep all right well man thanks so much
it's been a been a pleasure
really enjoyed it rod many blessings bro
thanks so much for coming on
okay thanks man talk with you soon thank
you all right
rocket ladies and gentlemen motivation
um whatever it is that you got going on
listen there aren't any excuses and
you know he he has a lot of people who
uh who have a right to have excuses
you know because they they wear those
excuses as a badge of honor
you know why they can't do something or
why they wasn't given the opportunity
and and you're really placing the blame
on other things or other people
and uh and you're allowing it to put you
in a prison
whether it's other people's opinions
just like rachel says here in the
comments i see you guys
uh you allow people's opinions and what
they think about you to put you
in uh in a prison and um man
finding people that disagree with you
and not even talking about it like
there's even that because
you know the echo chamber too it's not
like we we're always talking about
politics or i'm always talking to
christians or whatever the case is that
that you believe
but finding uh
people that you disagree with and just
not even not even talking about your
disagreements
that's huge too right it's not about
okay we're only going to talk about
scripture and
and break this down brother because you
believe that the pre-trib and
whatever religious people talk you know
um i said listen i know we have
disagreements and i've chosen
not to talk about it because i know
where those go now if you want to we can
there's always that right because we
could do that
but to be i could still be your friend
even though i know that you believe that
whatever you know insert here uh
that is a disagreement and so that's
huge you gotta learn how to do that
and to be able to get rid of those
preconceived notions
i've had many you know and it's you know
just because of how i was raised and
what i've learned and
um trying to um
you know judge someone according to the
flesh as someone says here in
in the chat but have a prejudice
against certain types of people
you know and and for many people it's
race you know that i don't like
black people because of this i was you
know there's a lot of those people
um you know we uh
you got to put yourself in people's
shoes man that's part of that empathy
that's part of being able to understand
listen i understand why you don't like
this or understand that and you can
insert anything and i've had to in my
life again
weird stuff uh you know it was
handicapped people uh you know
it's not you know something to brag
about but brag about the fact that i
overcame it
and i remember you know it's just seeing
people who have really bad speech
impediments and
and whether they did have cerebral palsy
and you you can't understand them
i was like okay i'm not going to
understand this person i may offend them
you know i don't know if i should make
eye contact there's a lot of things that
come
you know come with that and uh but i
remember the first time and this was you
know 20 years ago
of talking to somebody who came to hang
out with us
as a guy who had you had to really
listen
when he talked and he spoke really slow
didn't pronounce his words and he didn't
walk correct and
all that kind of stuff and so it's easy
to just say okay yeah we're not gonna
we're not gonna hang out with him he
can't come shoot basketball with us he
can't
keep up with us or whatever but then
finally okay he's in our car we're
hanging out because he was a friend of a
friend
and i'm listening wow this dude is smart
he's an intellectual he's funny but
i just couldn't take the time to listen
and so to be able to have
to make friends with someone like that
that man i gotta
i gotta listen i need to slow down and
quit
judging people so it was like that for
handicapped people for me early on
that's like okay let me listen let me
find a way that we can communicate
no matter how it is i mean i've got
friends that we communicate
who you know they they they can't really
uh uh
talk and um they're they're non-verbal
but you give them a cell phone and we
can communicate
through the cell phone type i'll ask
them a question
and they type the answer and we'll laugh
and joke and
and you can get to know people um but
you gotta
you gotta take the extra step another
thing for me
the way i grew up in the trailer park
being poor and all that
rich people being around people who were
rich or had money there was a certain
you know people would look down
on us coming from you know where we grew
up at and i never
you know had a lot of you know rich
friends in my life and so as i grew up
i kept held that rich people
are you know
snobs rich people are this they they
don't
understand rich people whatever any kind
of weird preconceived notion that you
interject for me it was rich people
until i met rich people
who were down to earth and regular
people
um it changed me and it was a process
you know
for many people it's people outside
their race
many people it's gay people oh man
you know and i've talked about even
having to overcome that being from the
south
and having gay friends and those kind of
things and where that
from a religious perspective that wasn't
good
or even having to tell that gay person
that they're going to hell it's like
when do you pop the question when do you
tell them
you tell them right when you meet them
and then people being
i've even had people in my ear hey you
got to tell him you got to tell
him and finally said hold on no wait you
got to tell them
i ain't got to tell them nothing first
of all i don't i don't know if i
necessarily agree the way that you uh uh
believe anymore
you know those kind of things but
you know like attracts like and we find
people who are just
like us get around somebody that makes
you uncomfortable
um and and and find beauty in the
difference and
and that's what i'm seeing lately and
i've been very vocal about it whether
it's what i do on my podcast but i've
seen a lot of christians too a lot of
religious people um that have
differences where in times past
we could not be friends even within a
denomination of christianity
oh you you guys believe this or we don't
believe that we cannot we have nothing
in common we can't build no listen
damn your differences give a damn about
that
let's find what we can agree on and
let's double down on that
and there is christ
there is the beauty the beauty is in the
differences
when it comes to from that perspective a
body of christ
a body of believers and it's um spoke
about as someone being maybe a hand
and someone being a foot someone being
the eyes all of these things are
are different they look different they
function differently
but they all complement one another
so to have people with those different
beliefs or different backgrounds or
different uh traits that they bring to
the table you gotta be able to celebrate
that
and and that's how the body of christ
the body of humanity
functions is to be able to see christ
to see beauty to see love in our
differences
in our differences and if you can't do
that you're missing out
you're missing out for sure
adam here in the chat says my older
sister was handicapped
and had the mind of a three-year-old her
throughout her life
me and my younger sister looked at my
older sister as equal and normal
but for other people there was judgment
exactly you know
and and obviously adam you had to to
maybe even learn to communicate with her
differently than some than a stranger
would there was what
you understood things there's people who
have those same speech impediments that
when their caregiver or their parent or
their sibling
hears them try to communicate they hear
them
in plain english even though it's broken
even though it's slurred
i don't know what they're saying but
that person understands
clearly what they're saying because
they've trained themselves
to be able to understand um even you
know
a type of cry or an emotion that you can
interpret
but you got to go the extra mile trust
me it's worth it
it's worth it and i just encourage you
to find those people that you
disagree with because even a broken
clock is right
twice a day there's something there's a
gym in it there's something for you
that you're missing for sure so with
that i'm gonna say peace and shalom guys
thanks for
for hanging out i hope that you you
enjoyed this this uh
podcast about gratitude about optimism
whatever your setback is let it be a
slingshot into what you're
into your destiny you know that there's
so many
there's so many and like i said it's not
about weighing
the um experience or or or the handicap
or the setback and say wow you know i
look at people
there's this guy i talk about him a lot
but i probably should learn his name but
the guy
he's been on oprah he's a motivational
speaker the guy
uh was born without arms or legs
and he's a motivational speaker he's
living his best life
and he's go he he kind of like like
waddles up to the
the stairs and he jumps up all the
stairs to get on stage
and he they put him on a little pulpit
and stuff and he shares and he's a great
speaker
but it's like when it comes down to
having having
reasons to be bitter having reasons to
be mad at
god or the creator or to complain
yeah i got those those reasons and those
rights but i've given them up
for a life of gratitude for a life of
opportunity
maybe this this handicap maybe this
thing that has
set me back again has been a setup to
propel me
into my destiny and to meet people to
talk to people
that i wouldn't have had the opportunity
or the desire
to talk to so without him say peace and
shalom make sure you guys subscribe to
the channel
uh give it a thumbs up here on youtube
and um
man share it out somebody needs to hear
this with that peace and shalom guys
we'll do it again peace peace
well that does it for this episode folks
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