Man, I grew up, you know, at a time in Detroit where, I mean, it was booming. You know, you had Motown. individuals like, you know, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson. I mean, Detroit was like, man, you talk about metropolitan. Like when you think about the United States of America in my time in the 70s, we were up there with Chicago, New York, L.A. I mean, if it was happening, it was happening in Hitsville, you know, USA. Yes, Detroit is enjoying its finest hour. There is a renaissance, a rebirth in the city. There's a newness in Detroit. The car industry was booming, you know, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Like, Detroit was just, I mean, at that time it was a lot. You know, we had African-American mayor, Mayor Coleman Young. I mean, Detroit, you know, it was live. I mean, it was a lot going on in the city. I remember, like, you know, being a kid, a seven mile was just blocked up, just cars, kids. Teenagers just, you know, in the street dancing, having fun. You know, the 70s was a real, real, you know, good time, man. Middle, it was the middle-class, you know, lifestyle for African-Americans at that time. Goal line defense for the Vikings. The handoff door set up the middle. Here it goes. Touch to his head. This is the first time I've ever seen a bird in the sky. It's a very strange bird. It's a very strange bird. It's a very strange bird. It's a very strange bird. Football was my thing, you know, American football. Like, since I was a kid, I mean, I'm on the block in Detroit, we playing tackle football, two-hand, touch football, imaginary football, me against, you know, the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know, that was my dream when I was a kid, man. I wanted to play, you know, American football. Like, that's all I wanted to do. School, I mean, I went to school because that's what you had to do. But I wouldn't say that I was in love with school, that I was like a student, but football, that was my thing. That was my passion. I just wanted to be in the NFL and play football. So why you don't give 120% every doggone time you get on the field? Because you ain't got a why for what you do. You ain't got a why. I walk in the room, I can see some of y'all. I spoke to all of y'all when y'all came in for the most Why? Because I'm looking in your eyes, and I see some of y'all, and you ain't serious. As a young child, Eric was a typical mama's boy, full of energy, a leader even then. Everybody gravitated to our house. When I was younger, man, my relationship with my mom was like, you know, great. We were so close. We just had like, you know, like an emotional attachment. I mean, we thought the same, we act the same. That was my best friend when I was a kid. I had a great relationship with my son from the moment he was born. At the age of 12, you know, I got some news that, you know, kind of changed, I guess you would say, my life or my childhood forever. When Eric called me at work, he said, Mom. I have something I want to ask you. At first, I was a little afraid to question my mom, but there were some things that I saw, you know, that I was like, well, maybe, you know, my aunts, maybe the people who were telling me this, maybe it could be real. Like, I started to see signs, you know, I started to see things, friends on the block started to say things to me, you know, and so finally, you know, I was, like I said, I don't know, anywhere between 12 and 13, I don't remember the exact day, but I remember calling my mom, like, you know, mom, I got a question to ask you. And he said his dad, my real dad. My mother said to me, you know, no. It was devastating. And I would encourage anyone, share with your child because somebody else will. And it's horrible when they find out from someone else. When I was homeless, when I was a high school dropout, when I was acting a fool, it's because I thought my mother had me by accident. Yeah, my life took a different course after receiving the news. Yeah, I mean, I just went downhill from that point. You know what I'm saying? I withdrew, you know? I went internally, you know, and I didn't really talk to my mother as much as I used to talk to my mother before. Man, I went to school and I just climbed. Rebellious. Teachers couldn't tell me nothing. You know, I started treating my father differently, like, yo, for real, you're not my father. You know what I'm Don't put your hands on me. You can't touch me. You know, I was hanging out with more of the rougher dudes, you know, more of the, you know, what they would call, you know, the thugs on the block. You know what I'm saying? And I just really, I just, it just went downhill. I got very negative after that. Like I said, school-wise, home life changed. It's my whole life changed and started going on. It was a downhill spiral. My parents were from the old school. You know, you're disrespectful. You don't obey the rules. You pay the consequences for it. I'm like, I'm not paying the consequences for nothing. And I remember my, you know, my mother talking to me and I'm not paying my mother no mind. It's like, whatever. And my father's like, look, your mom's talking to you. Have a seat. I'm like, I ain't sitting down. I'm not. sitting down. And so I just remember, you know, it kind of, we going back and forth and it's turning into an argument. I'm just like starting to walk away and he's kind of like, no, you're not going to disrespect me. You know, and I'm like, whatever. I'm walking out the house and they said to me as I was leaving, like, if you leave, for real, you can never come back to this house again. I was like, well, whatever. I'm never coming back. You know, when you're homeless and you're living in abandoned buildings, You know, you're eating out of trash cans or going to the grocery stores and stealing from the grocery store just to eat. it was a wake-up call. It was like, yo, E, look what you got yourself into. Like, you dogging your mom out, but your mom got a job. You know, your mom has a place to stay. Like, you're the only one that's living in abandoned buildings. You're the only one eating out of trash cans like this. And so I was like, yo, E, for real, you got to stop playing the blame game. You know, at some point, you have to take personal responsibility. And it clicked. Like, yo, you got yourself here. Like, regardless of everything else. You played a role in getting yourself here. Now you got to get yourself out. and I just remember man saying like yo E you homeless now but this ain't the rest of your life man this might be the story today this ain't how my life is going in I remember thinking that to myself like we gonna get out of here we gonna make it I'm sleeping in you know in in in between buildings because Detroit is cold in the winter you know I'm in restaurants only because not to eat you know but I'm trying to get out of the cold and I'm like this is not gonna be like this forever and I remember you know, not growing up in a church or anything like that, not being religious, but I was like, man, I don't have nothing else. I remember saying a soft prayer like, man, God, I need help. I need you to help me to get out of this predicament. Listen to me. Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even a year. Eventually, it will subside. and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever. During my freshman year, a group of guys, we started a ministry on campus. We would do it every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. I mean, these guys were beasts. One guy wanted to be a lawyer. One guy wanted to be a pastor. I think his father and his grandfather were pastors. Originally, I just wanted to be a part of something positive. I left Detroit, Michigan, moved down to Huntsville, Alabama. I just wanted to be a part of something positive. I didn't even know I could speak. I didn't know I had the ability to speak. I mean, I taught a lot growing up. I'm sure if you ask my teachers or my mom, you know what I'm saying, definitely. I talked a lot, but I never saw it as a profession. But when I got to college, Man, I saw African-American males. It was a group. They call themselves WSB, Willing, Succeeding, and Black. I mean, these guys, man, Hugo Boss suits, power ties. They look like lawyers, man. These guys were phenomenal. And I would listen to their conversation. They were talking about Plessy versus Ferguson, Brown versus Board of Education. And to be with positive African-American men, this is the first time I wasn't in a community where they were talking about girls and drugs and fighting and gangs. These guys were talking about... international affairs, you know, it was unbelievable. And so I just was like, you know, I just want to be a hole in the wall, you know. And so I started working with these guys, just helping putting programs together, etc. And then one day, one of the guys didn't show up to speak. And I mean, I was there, so I had to do it. You know, and so I remember my first speech, it was unbelievable. My first speech was about three, four hundred people. And I mean, they loved it. You know, and people came to me afterwards like, yo, Eric. Man, you said something that really pricked my heart. I was like, whoa. You know, it was like football for me. When I played football, I was that guy. But there was nothing intellectual that I'd ever done, you know, that allowed, you know, me to get the same type of feeling I got from sports. So when they gave me a chance to speak and it went well, I was like, yeah, wait, wait, I get, wait till the second shot. And so, you know, each time I would speak, I would just feel it was just, man, I felt superhuman. You know, so I knew at 19 years old, as a freshman in college, that this was something, this was a gift, it was something special. And I had made up in my mind that instead of football, that public speaking was what I was going to do, you know, as my hustle. When you want to succeed, as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful. I don't know how many of y'all got asthma in here today, but if you ever had an asthma attack before, you short of breath, SOB, shortness of breath, you wheezing. The only thing you're trying to do is get some air. You don't care about no basketball game. You don't care what's on TV. You don't care about nobody calling you. You don't care about a party. The only thing you care about when you're trying to breathe is to get some fresh air. That's it. And when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to be, then you'll be successful. I think what's so unique about. You know, my presentation is that it comes from the heart that I speak from the heart and I'm not afraid to be transparent. I'm not afraid to talk about my failures. I'm not I'm not afraid to talk about my fears. You know, I'm not I'm not afraid to open up my life and give my story to the world. Thank you.