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Excellence Above Talent Podcast
The Excellence Above Talent podcast was started because of death trauma and pain. Men are 3.6 times more likely to commit suicide than women. Men predominantly do the violence that happens in the US. Men in the United States predominantly commit domestic violence and sexual assaults. Ninety percent of the prison population are men. I want to start a conversation to get clarity and insight on why this is happening. Families are being destroyed, lives are being lost, and people are hurting from the hands of men, men who were supposed to be the providers and protectors of their families. As a BIPP (Batterer’s Intervention and Prevention Program) Director for 4 years, I have had numerous conversations with men about why they thought abuse was necessary or did not even know they were abusers. The conversation had in our class helped open my eyes and the eyes of other men. I found out that men want to talk about these issues, but there is no platform or space, so we keep quiet, not wanting to challenge the status quo. The Excellence Above Talent podcast will do just that; it will challenge everything we think manhood is. Join the conversation and let us fight for the state of man because this next generation of young men needs us too.
Excellence Above Talent Podcast
A Teacher's Mission: Transforming Lives and Mentoring the Next Generation of Leaders
Our dialogue then pivots to the crucial role of men in shaping young boys into tomorrow's leaders. I delve into my own path of rediscovery and growth after a tough divorce, underscoring the surprising sources of support that emerged when I reached out for help. As we discuss the silent crisis faced by many men today—heightened suicide rates and incarceration—I highlight the men who stand as beacons of hope, guiding boys toward a better future. It's a candid conversation about resilience, the transformative impact of mentorship, and the powerful statement our actions make to the young minds watching and learning from us. Join me in this heartfelt exploration of what it takes to inspire men's journeys to greatness and empower our next generation through mentorship and positive change.
#excellenceabovetalent #EAT #dontgiveup #youdeservethebest #youareenough ...
You're listening to Excellence Above Talent, a podcast where we have the hard conversations about the lives of men and what leads us to achieve greatness and suffer defeat. Hear from other men's journeys as well, as we all learn and grow together to become inspirations to ourselves and those around us. And now your host, Aaron Thomas.
Speaker 2:What's up my beautiful people, aaron Thomas, with Excellence Above Talent. So I was at the Odessa Leadership graduation and I was there to support Yanni at her job when she asked me if there was an extra ticket or there was a plus one ticket, so I said, yeah, I'll go. But here lately I have been feeling overwhelmed because I want to make a difference. I sometimes feel like I'm making a difference, but then there are like days or weeks where you look around and you start to question why am I doing the things that I'm doing? It would be a lot easier to go with the flow, not push the boundaries, not be combative about making the world around you and the place around you better. It would just be a lot easier to. In my head, I make the assumption it would be a lot easier to sit back and chill. But you know that when you sit back and chill, then you can't get mad at how your life will be. So I'm trying to take whatever life is giving me and I'm trying to make it better. I cannot complain about the size of my stick when there's someone that has a smaller stick than I do and there's someone that has a bigger stick than I do. I'm saying this and it sounds weird now for all the nasty people out there. Get your mind out the gutter, but I'm trying to use or do my best with what I have. Colin Sewell was the presenter tonight and the message that he talked about hit me square in the face, because a lot of times I have let the destination define who I was as a person, whether it be a person, a girlfriend, my ex-wife, a job, a town and the very first thing he said was the thing that I was struggling with the most, and he said do not let Odessa define you, you define who you are in Odessa.
Speaker 2:I started teaching at Nimitz Middle School in November and fell in love with the kiddos because we have some amazing, and fell in love with the kiddos because we have some amazing, awesome kids in this next generation of young people that are hungry for more, that need kindness and love in a world that is angry and evil, angry and evil. And a lot of seventh graders show their home life at school when they are combative and angry and upset and they're cussing and they're just causing all kinds of chaos. Those kids are sometimes, or can be sometimes, overwhelming, but then I think about what is it that they're going through when they go home and they have to be with whoever is there at their house raising them? Are they eating? Do they have the food? Are they being touched or molested by a family member? Food Are they being touched or molested by a family member? Is someone beating them because they're angry that their life is the way it is and so they beat these kids? You don't know what's really going on, but you do see it when they come to school and wreak havoc. But in my process of teaching seventh grade math, all these kids have the opportunity to be better than this next generation and I have been sitting on the sidelines, afraid of what others would say or think if I try to make this community a better place. And I've decided to stop sitting on the sidelines and I have put myself in the arena to fight for this next generation. For again, for again.
Speaker 2:This year to year and a half, I started to let Odessa define who I was as a man, because I had gone through a divorce and essentially lost everything and I thought I had friends that were for me and I realized that they wasn't and I was in a lonely place. Mentally. I kind of pulled back, kind of kept quiet. I would see things that needed to be addressed and I didn't address them because it wasn't my business, until something happened a couple of months ago with an organization that I'm a part of and I voiced my opinion. What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Can we not be better One? It felt good that I was voicing something that I saw and needed to be addressed, and I slowly started to build the confidence to ask for more, to try to do more.
Speaker 2:So last month there was a star test that we at Nimitz were trying to get the kids excited for, and I asked the Odessa community for money, wanted to do a pizza party and give out gift cards to the kids that we deemed needed a little more work in order to ace the star, and we got a little bit over $1,100. The crazy part is me asking for help is very difficult, but me asking for help to help others is a very easy ask of me, from me, and so we were able to have a Saturday from nine to one and we were able to pour into these kids and teach them math in a fun way, give them food, because some might not have had food for that weekend. And then we passed out $1,000 worth of gift cards. Some of these kids went home with two and three and four different type of gift cards to Synergy, starbucks, mcdonald's, chick-fil-a, the Xbox 360 cards, the PlayStation cards. We were able just to motivate these kids and within a short period we took an end of the year map test to see how these kids grew and 220. We wanted to appreciate them for putting in the effort and the work to show up to school and try, and so I did another big ask of the community. I was looking at 220 Chick-fil-A boxes and it cost about $1,900. And this was Monday, the party's Friday, so we didn't give ourselves a lot of time as a department math department to create something for the kiddos. So I asked the community and again they showed up.
Speaker 2:But anytime you do things that require other people's money, there will be a select group of people in there. Usually the people that you're cool with or close to will make the assumption of you not doing what is right with the money. And that was something that someone said and I felt some type of way about it and then I thought maybe I shouldn't ask, maybe I should just be quiet and hope that a company will help out the school in order for us to get this testing funds for these kids, for these kids. But I started to think that a lot of these kids don't get recognized and this might be one of the few times in their seventh grade school year that someone is recognizing them for doing something that they worked hard for. We sometimes forget that, although they are young human beings and they're trying to figure it out, the seventh graders they're 11, 12, and 13 years old. They are 11, 12, and 13 years old and they're trying to figure it out and giving them grace and showing them kindness and celebrating them in a society where that's not something that they see is important.
Speaker 2:So I pushed all of that negativity that I first had aside and I made the ask and we wasn't able to get Chick-fil-A because by Wednesday we had about $1,500. So I was $400 short. But there was a friend that reached out to a friend that worked at HEB and they called and said that they would give us $200 and work on the prices on the boxes for us, and so we got 100 boxes from HEB with $200 gift cards that go to the food as well as discounted prices for the food and we got 120 meals at Raising Cane's. Somebody also reached out from the Desert Hawks. They are an arena football team and they said that they wanted to be there for the kids, to show them love, to congratulate them. We were able to go to Sam's today and we got boxes of full-size candy bars for the kiddos. We've got boxes of full-size candy bars for the kiddos, as well as popcorn kernels, because we're going to be popping a lot of popcorn. We're trying to make this day special for the kids that worked at Buttoffs from the beginning of the year to the end of the year and all the kids don't get to go. It also shows the other kids that don't get to go. Maybe next year you don't play around or you try a little bit harder. If you don't understand or get what's going on, ask questions, let's figure it out. So tomorrow is going to be for the kiddos that work their butts off.
Speaker 2:But if I, as a man, allowed Odessa to define me, I wouldn't have done it, because I would be afraid of what people thought of me or if I was doing what I said I was doing with the money. The crazy part is a lot of people who gave weren't even the people that I view as some of my closest friends. Some are, others aren't. But a lot of times you see, if you try to do something bigger than you, how people who don't know you but know you will support. And a lot of times the support that you're looking for isn't going to come from the people that you know. It comes from strangers. It comes from people who feel your energy, who feels that good spirit that you're trying to put out there in the world and they want to give back to it and they do, and I was super humbled.
Speaker 2:I put a post out on Monday. By Tuesday we were at $1,400 and the total altogether that was raised for these kids at Nemez Junior High was about $1,800. And we're able just to pour into these kids and give these kids and celebrate these kids for a job well done. I don't think they feel it enough or see it enough and I want to be able to change that perspective or change that way, especially for these kids. In a world where information is overloaded into their brains, they need to know that they are celebrated. They need to know that they are celebrated. They need to know that they are loved. They need to know that they are worthy and that they are enough and that they're doing good things as seventh graders, even though some of them make dumb decisions. And they're still trying to figure it out. It's okay, I'm no better than you as a 37-year-old man trying to figure it out as well.
Speaker 2:I am back in the arena. I'm throwing myself back in the arena because someone needs to hear what I have to say, and it isn't from an egotistical standpoint. It's from a God has put a lot on my mind. It's from a God has put a lot on my mind and I, as a man of God, should not be afraid to speak what needs to be spoken. And if it angers people, sorry, not sorry. And if it helps people, good, good. But I won't allow and can't allow a society that is broken. Define who I should be in Christ first off, and then as a man.
Speaker 2:Secondly, colin also said in his speech tonight that you have an obligation to think about the next generation, and there are a lot of people not thinking about the next generation and they're so busy fighting for success that they're willing to stomp on the faces of this next generation for a few dollars. I've said it before there's not enough men being mentors to young boys whose fathers deserted them, and just one. If one young boy could be mentored by one man, it will change his entire perspective on life. I have nephews, and their dad was not around and I had a choice to make. They're not my kids, I don't have to take care of them, but I had a choice and the choice was I wanted to make sure they were better men than me when I was growing up. And those young boys have developed and are developing into being great men and I'm not saying I had everything to do with that, because they have an amazing support system. They have a praying mama and an amazing mama and they have an amazing grandma that makes sure they're also in line as well. But it warms my heart to see, when I see them, how good men they're going to be, and I can't help but think how or where would their life be if they did not have someone to look up to and to call an uncle. My little brother also is an amazing role model for my two nephews Really an amazing role model.
Speaker 2:It wasn't just me alone, they also had him and I wasn't too busy to not pay attention to them, because I was trying to make money or be successful. I knew that if we didn't do our part, that they would just continue down the path that we went down and it wasn't a bad path but we just didn't have the information or help that we needed, that we're trying to give them so that they can make better decisions in the world and that they don't have to struggle like we did. It is an obligation. It is an obligation, it is a duty. It is your right to, especially as a man, to think about this next generation, because manhood is under attack. No one wants to talk about it.
Speaker 2:There are women running around here saying they don't need men, which is just the craziest thing in the world, because, as a man, I need a woman. I'm not ignorant to the fact that I can do it by myself or alone. I need a good woman by my side and in my life, and I have been blessed to have a lot of good women in my life. To know that, as a man, thinking I don't need a woman is one of the dumbest things I can think of. But we are in an age where there are women who believe that they don't need a man because they were hurt by a few and, instead of healing, they look at the entire race of men as all bad and that they don't need them, which is sad. This world needs men and if you are a man out there and you don't think you are needed in this world, please understand. We need you, we need you to be whole, we need you to be healed because you are enough, you are worthy, you are strong, you are needed because this next generation of young boys. You are needed because this next generation of young boys need someone to look up to. It's a need, not a want.
Speaker 2:Colin also said, or quoted who loses when you win.
Speaker 2:Who loses when you don't win and you can't win sitting on the sidelines? You have to be in the arena, you have to be in the game. You have to be in the game. You have to be trying as a man. I don't want to lose this next generation of young boys because I chose not to play the game. I chose not to join in the arena and get my ass kicked on a daily basis trying to figure out the best way I can be as a man, because a lot of times, young boys might not hear what you have to say, but they see everything through your actions and I want to make sure through my actions I am doing all that I can to be the best role model for this next generation that you can make mistakes, that you can have addictions and overcome them, that you can hurt someone that you love and break their heart, that you can cheat on someone that you can do vile and evil things, but that does not define who you are as a person.
Speaker 2:You are hurting in that stage or a season in your life and you hurt somebody, including yourself, but you can build from that pain. You can build from that hurt, to be better, to understand yourself more, to not put yourself in situations where you're hurting others. The last quote he said was what man is a man that doesn't make his world better? What man is a man that doesn't make his world better?
Speaker 2:Not the entire world, not another person's world, his personal world better. What man am I if I show up into a room and create chaos and drama and mess? What type of man am I if I show up into a home and create fear and chaos and hurt and pain? As a man, you should show up into rooms and those rooms become better, because your voice is a voice where you're not trying to create chaos and destruction, but it's a voice to, where you're not afraid to say what needs to be said, but you will say it in love and in kindness and in truth.
Speaker 2:I lived in Odessa my entire life, for the most part Been to the army, moved to Dallas, came back, but most of my life I've been in Odessa and I think most of my life I allowed Odessa to define who I was as a man, because it's a small enough place where people know you and so sometimes you T-Rex things for fear of not being included with the cool kids. You short on things because you don't want to be blackballed or made fun of or called out, because we all have skeletons in our closet and hell, I know I got some videos out there of me probably doing some very dumb things Drunk and people are just waiting to put him on social media or to say he ain't about that life when I am. I could have got drunk two years ago and still be about trying to change the community that I'm in. I can be both of those things. One of those things will 100% drain me to where I can stop doing both and just focus on one, which is alcohol or in moderation, and continue to try to be the best person, try to grow myself, try to grow this community to be better.
Speaker 2:I'm tired of kicking the can down the road, making small, insignificant changes that look good for the masses but in five years does nothing for the community as a whole. We need men who are saying it's not okay to show up, to stop being afraid and fight like hell to make sure that this next generation of young boys don't feel like they're not needed, don't feel like they're not enough, don't feel like they're worthy to walk into rooms and have their voices heard, because people are upset and angry over something that not all men did, but a few men have done, and they're trying to take it out on all men, including this next generation of young boys. We can't allow it to happen. The suicide rate is already high amongst men and young boys.
Speaker 2:Violence, domestic violence. The prison system is filled of young men and boys. We're not okay, but we can be if my generation and the older generation starts to stand up and fight back. And it's not in a malicious way. It's pouring into our young men. It's pouring into this next generation. It's showing them what a man really is, someone who is open and vulnerable and kind, doesn't have to be afraid to be himself, doesn't take crap from anybody, will call it out in love.
Speaker 2:I needed that today, tonight. I needed that today tonight. I needed that message because sometimes you feel overwhelmed when you're trying to create a culture of change. You feel overwhelmed because in order to create a culture of change, you have to look in the mirror every day at yourself. You have to have that conversation every day with yourself, and some days you're on and some days you're off, some days you don't feel worthy to have that conversation and some days you do. But each and every day I try, and the more I learn, the less I know. The more I learn about myself, the more pressure I feel to overcome and unlearn all the things that I have learned up until this point so that I can become a better man.
Speaker 2:Last thing, and I will tell you this I found my voice because I got back in church, join a group at Hope Alive Church to be a part of a yearly Bible study every Tuesday, because at the beginning of this year I was beefing with God, I wasn't in a good place mentally, I was very angry at God because I thought I should be somewhere else in life and I wasn't. But I began to go to these sessions every Tuesday and to hear these lessons and watch these videos and it slowly began to ignite a fire within me and it's slowly burning this fire back up. If you're not connected to a church, if you don't have someone or something to talk to, you will get eaten up by this world, because no man can ever do it alone. No man has ever done it alone and no man will ever do it alone. We need each other like the Oreo blizzard needs ice cream. It's big back problems right there.
Speaker 2:So if anyone hasn't told you today that they love you, let me be the first to say I love you. You're awesome, you're amazing. You deserve the best that this world has to offer. Do not give up, do not quit. The world does not get easier. You get stronger. Y'all have a blessed weekend. Let's go do great things. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode and for daily motivational and up-to-date content. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Excellence Above Talent. And remember keep moving forward, never give up and you are never alone in this battle. We'll see you next time you
