The Conspiracy of Love

On July 17th, 2012 I attended my twin brother's Commencement at Stanford and I aside from being happy and proud for him, I was thoroughly moved by his Commencement speaker. Cory Booker is the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey and received his B.A. and M.A. from Stanford, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and received his PH.D from Yale University. I can honestly say for me personally, is the most powerful speech I have ever heard and a moment that will always stick in my head forever. He spoke about his father and grandfather and how they shaped his life today. He called it The Conspiracy of Love which reminds us that we enjoy the shade from trees we did not plant and eat from large dinner banquets we did not prepare. The conspiracy is to make sure we as people and society do not become lazy and content in the many blessings we have today, but rather use it as motivation to continue the long tradition of hard work and dedication that has shaped our lives today. He also preached about faith and never allowing yourself to lose it. To keep your faith he harped on the idea of courage and after a dramatic experience he defined courage as: "Real courage is when Life has beaten you down so low, when you are broken and when you have wounds that you wonder if they will ever heal...courage is not the roar, it is the small voice in your mind that says get up, get out of bed...and go outside for another day of loving...you can cut me deep but, you can never stop me from loving...and bring on the light"

Since my brother's Commencement I have followed Mayor Booker on twitter and it is amazing how interactive he is with the public. Both supporters and hater, the mayor responds to both of them with respect and love. I will admit that I am not heavily involved in politics, and to be honest I do not know enough about both parties platforms. But the reason I pay attention to the Mayor is because he talks about the bigger picture. He has stated numerous times, it is not about left or right, or Republican and Democrat, but rather us as a Nation to work together to get us out of debt and recover in much needed areas such as the school systems. Obviously the speech below is for the DNC, but I think everybody, doesn't matter of your political affiliation, should listen to his words. Because at the end of the day we need to work hard and commit ourselves like our ancestors did back in the day. The Mayor has definitely become one of my favorite people to listen to. Ever since his "Conspiracy of Love" speech at Stanford (video above) I have listened to him whenever I can.