When my children turned 16 and earned their driver's license I had a long talk with them about how to drive, what not to do and how to behave behind the wheel. I thought that this was the same talk that all parents had with their children during this exciting time in their young lives. I found out that this is not necessarily true. I also learned that people of color have a much different talk. Join me as I explore this topic with my friend Noah Coleman.
When my children turned 16 and earned their driver's license I had a long talk with them about how to drive, what not to do and how to behave behind the wheel. I thought that this was the same talk that all parents had with their children during this exciting time in their young lives. I found out that this is not necessarily true. I also learned that people of color have a much different talk. Join me as I explore this topic with my friend Noah Coleman.
Bill Krieger (Host)
Hello everyone and welcome to Me You Us, a wellbeing podcast. It's another wellbeing Wednesday here at Consumers Energy. And I'm your host bill Krieger today, my guest is Noah Coleman. He's a trenching machine operator or tmo, as well as an inclusion champion here at Consumers Energy. Now, you may remember Noah from season one, Episode 44. Back in December of 2020. If not, please go back and check that one out. But Noah, if you'll Introduce yourself, we'll get the conversation started.
Noah Coleman
Absolutely, absolutely. Good afternoon, my brother Bill. Glad to be here. happy that you reached out to me to do another extension of a great episode that we had, my name is a for everybody in the audience. Again, Noah Coleman. I've been with the company about eight years, I started out in gas construction side of the business back in 2013. Worked on our gas maintenance side, as Bill said, I was a temos, which is a trenching machine operator. And I've recently been promoted to a gas labs worker, awesome deal. So now I'm w on the gas I, you know, and I'm excited about that, as of today, actually, I got another upgrade. And I'm also a diversity equity inclusion champion. And like I mentioned before, I'm extremely excited about that, you know, we talked about, you know, education piece, and, you know, just getting to know different perspectives, and all of that. And I think that's one of the joys that I love about this, this position that I'm in is the fact that I get to have great conversation with people, and not only educate them, but educate myself to on a different way of thinking. So I like to stretch my mind, so to speak. And this is a win for me to do that, you know, we
Bill Krieger (Host)
talked about stretching our minds to during our, our tail boards as well, right, we want to stretch our bodies and keep them fit. But we also want to stretch our minds keep that as well. So talk to us a little bit about DNI or diversity, equity inclusion and what an inclusion champion is, and some of the things that you do as part of that team,
Noah Coleman
not to get really in depth into the strategy of it, you know, as far as you know, from processes and talent and things of that nature, but primarily, I mean, an inclusion champion here at consumers, we were involved in all of those different pillars, you know, culture, strategy and processes. I mean, I'm sorry, you know, talent, you know, but the main one that we really need to hone in to, and really put a lot of focus on is our culture, you know, and the reason I say that is because, you know, you hear it all the time, you know, if our culture is not aligned with our strategy, then our culture, you know, strategy for lunch, and that's true, that's a very true statement, you know, we have to create an atmosphere of inclusivity, you know, atmosphere where people feel welcome and feel belong, and feel as if they can bring their entire self to work, you know, we can speak about it all day. But if a person really doesn't truly feel that way, then I mean, our work is effortless, you know, because, again, you know, nobody really, you know, buy into it, or feel as if it's going anywhere, or even believe it. So for inclusion champion for, you know, for the rest of the team and myself, we really try to reach out to everybody that we possibly can to really give them some education onto what DNI really is, you know, diversity, equity, equality, you know, inclusion, and I'm glad I say equity and equality, because they're two different things. They're they're definitely two different things. And, you know, we talk, we touch on that a little bit, as well, you know, and just making sure that, you know, people know that diversity, when you hear the term diversity is bigger than, you know, just a black and white issue. You know, it's bigger than that, you know, you have we just on our strategy, we have 23 different dimensions or areas, you know, of dimensions of diversity, you know, that's different in itself. And it's, you know, ranges from age to race to political affiliation. I mean, the list goes on and on. So we really want to kind of, you know, break down that kind of barrier to think that is just a black and white or race issue, because it's big, it's bigger than that.
Bill Krieger (Host)
Well, I think for a long time, that's how people viewed diversity, equity inclusion, or the old EEOC. And I think you said something that really struck something in me and that is, you know, Gone are the days where we can just talk about equity in that, okay. And Gone are the days that we can just talk about inclusion. And that's okay. And Gone are the days that we just talked about diversity, we actually have to do something to move our culture in that direction, because otherwise, they are just words, and they're hollow words, unless we're acting in the way that we say that we want to be.
Noah Coleman
Absolutely, I mean, you know, we talked about just like you just said, you know, going on today's we could just talk about it. I mean, we've reached a point now where we need tangible things, we think that we can really latch on to whether that'd be a relatable experience, whether that'd be something that we can visually see, you know, whatever the case may be, but we need things to really see, you know, our vision, so to speak for DNI coming to fruition, you know, and it's gonna take more sometimes in a conversation. You know, we have conversations as inclusion champions all the time, especially myself, you know, wears two or three times a week and it's not just know for OMC workers, it's leaders within our company is leaders within the union, it's people outside of, you know, Consumers Energy, my neighbor, you know, my friend, my family, my mother, my father, I mean, to be honest with you some of those conversations, let's be honest, well, for myself, I'm not gonna speak for everybody else. But I found the most difficult conversations for me to have is the one that I have to have with people that's closest to me, like my family members. Because, especially for someone that's older, because of the simple fact their experiences, it's hard for them to break down those barriers, because of what they've been through, you know, so, you know, they need something that they can visually see some change.
Bill Krieger (Host)
And we talk about culture. And we've talked quite a bit we have for the audience know that I spend some time talking every once in a while. And one of the things that I didn't, I'll just be honest, I didn't think was real, is I hear people talking about having to give their children the talk. And these are my black friends who talked about having to give their children the talk. And I don't think it was really until you and I talked about this, that I got the meaning of all of that. And just to give a little context to the audience, we were just talking about our kids, and when they turned 16, and they got their driver's licenses, because that's like a really exciting time. For a lot of kids like that, that's when they really start to gain their independence. And they can do things on their own. And we start to loosen the reins a little bit as parents. And you know, I talked about sending my kids out for the first time of that car, saying, I'll make sure you have your, your driver's license with you and your proof of insurance and your registration. And, you know, don't speed and don't get in trouble and don't drink it out all the things that parents tell their kids. But when I talk to, you know, I found out that there's this whole other conversation, they had to go on between you and your son. And when you talked about it, you talked about this is supposed to be like the happiest day or one of the happiest days. And it really was a struggle for you. So could you talk a little bit about that with the audience?
Noah Coleman
Yeah, absolutely. That day, is like a constant reminder. To me, like every day when my son gets in his car now, and he goes to the store, or he takes his little brothers to the ice cream shop or you know, doing any anything and whenever he leaves my yard, but what happened, just to give some context to the audience, as far as we don't know, My son, I turned 16. And, you know, again, you know, that was one of the days that I look for as a parent, you know, as a father, I'm like, Man, you know, my son turned 16 you know, me and my wife, I'm gonna be talking and I'm like, Listen, you know, we don't buy him a car, you know, I can't wait to try and, you know, hand the keys over to him and see the smile on his face. Like, you know, that was something that that not only did I look for, for doing for him, but I know it was an experience that I didn't have. So I wanted to make sure that, you know, me being a parent. And I know, Bill, you know, you probably had the same thing. We want to award our kids for certain things that we didn't have, you know, especially if it was a gap somewhere. So that was something that was very, very proud of doing so. We bought a car, we go to Secretary of State, you know, I'm in the midst of me getting his his driver's license taking a picture for his driver's license taken, I'm getting the car registered and things of that nature. It was I mean, it was a great event. I mean, you could have bought me for a nickel bill at the time, because I was just so I was just full of joy. And so we get done, and we go to the car. So I say okay, so well, you know, your registration approved for insurance. It goes right here in the blue box. And he said know that he wanted to go on the armrests. And you know, I kind of chuckled a little bit. And I say last night, you know, he can't he can't go there. You know it has it goes in a glove. I this is a universal spot. So are you ready to go in here? And he kind of grabbed my arm like, Nah, Daddy, I wanted to go right here. And I'm like, you know, what, what's, what's going on? Why are you so headstrong about wanting to go into globex? And he said, Well, what if I go to reach for it or not get shot. At that moment, I didn't know how to respond to it, because I knew my son was acting out of fear, from what he see on the news from what he's seen in his community, you know, from somebody the experiences that you know, he have in a, you know, from his friends. Now, before I go any further into the conversation, the first thing I had to do was let him know that Listen, you know, all cops, number one are not there. So, you know, we have across the United States, we have over 150,000 or so police officers throughout, you know, different agencies of policing blood around our country, you know, and what 12% of that being when, you know, and but I also recognize the fact that he knows the struggles even as six teams that are black community, we go through, you know, um, you know, he's moving in a sense of fear, because he know that if he asked a simple question, and that's happened to me, I've never, I've never been that kind of parent to say, My experience is going to be my son's experience. Right? So I try to make sure I let them have that grace, to navigate through the world so to speak, not to the point where I'm really not on them. Do whatever but at the same time, I don't want to pass down any type of traditional biases or traditional, you know, pre preconceived judgments, so to speak. So, with that being said, I let him know that man, again, you know, everybody is not bad, you know, you're gonna have a few bad people end up there, no cops or whatever that's, you know, that's, that's police or not in a policing industry, or, you know, it may be one or two instances where, you know, you may feel as if, you know, things are not fair, but that's not all aspects, you know, that's not just limited to police, that's in every group or every, you know,
ethnic group of people, or whatever the case may be, I hate when we categorize categorize an entire group of people, because it's not fair. You know, it allows us to set up stereotypes, you know, and when we do that, and we really do ourselves a disservice. But nevertheless, it was a very hard conversation for me, because I knew my son was fearful, you know, and I didn't want him to be driving around, you know, and get pulled over, or anything of that nature. And he'd be scared, you know, to have that interaction with that police officer, you know, yeah, you could be cautious. I get that. No, but I don't want him to think that when he does see a police officer, that he has to always continue to think or believe that no, something bad is gonna happen to him, because I don't want him to feel that way. Because not only not only because I want him to, to give people enough grace to see that a lot of people are not there. But at the same time, I don't want him to be nervous and to be scared. And it'd be looked at, in a different way from a police officer that that may he let's just say he do run across that, that bad person, I'm not even gonna say the officer, that bad person at the time. And they judge him the wrong way. And something bad happens to my my son, I'm also on 16. You know, he's 511, you know, he's 285 pounds and size 15 shoe. So when you saying from the neck, and I, he looks like a grown man, you know, he's a big a big, a big kid, you know, great, great heart, not gonna bother anybody, you know, but uh, I just didn't want him to be moving in fear like that, man. So it was a conversation that we had to have. But it was one of the toughest conversations I've ever had to have with my child.
Bill Krieger (Host)
So I'm gonna go back to that. I mean, it's the same thing I tell my kids registration and proof of insurance. So they go right here, and I can't so I'm trying to figure out like, the minute he says, I don't want to put it there. Because what if I reach for it? And I get shot? Like what? Like, at that very say, how did you feel? How do you feel about
Noah Coleman
to be honest with you, I felt helpless. I felt helpless. Because, again, like I said earlier, I know my son is going off of his experiences that he see that he knows his friends men through that, you know, he see on the news, you know, around the time when he turned 16, you know, it was around a, you know, the time when the one thing has happened with George Floyd and he like man was, you know, whatever happened, you know, and in the situation for George, and all the other events, you know, that that happened, I got jogging down the street, and, you know, whatever, not to get off into, you know, the other aspects of it, but I knew he was moving in a sense of fear. And to be honest with you, for somebody that's black, that's hard, you know, to, to stretch your mind and give an explanation as to why because it's not No, there is no no perfect explanation as to why it's done. There is no right or wrong answer to that, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a heavy conversation deal for me to have to have for my school, my son, who's 16, who's going to start navigating through life, you know, and just like I just told you, my son is 16 years old, you know, 511, and, you know, 285 pounds, it's like, Listen, it's gonna be a lot of times where he may say something passionately, you know, like, why is this? Or why is that and is His disposition is going to be mistaken for aggression? You know, and I don't want that to come off. You know, so what if that happens with, you know, with with my son, you know, that's some that's gonna hurt me, man. And I don't know if I'll be able to handle that, you know, if that was to happen, you know, my kids is everything to me now, you know, and I pride myself on setting them up to be successful, I pride myself on giving them the tools, they need to be productive members of society, and to be able to be a benefit to our community, and just being positive role models. You know, so when when he asked me that question, it's just like, I really felt helpless man, because I just, I couldn't give him a straightforward answer as to why it happened. Because I mean, truthfully, be let's be honest, like, why does it happen? I mean, here, we know, series of events that, you know, that's happened in our life and things that happen on you know, happen for you know, years to come, but, you know, me and my head, and, you know, people may agree to, you know, to disagree or whatever, but it makes me all automatically go back to, you know, when, like, slave patrols was going around, and they was going to, you know, the policing was was going on, and police agencies back in, you know, the 1700s and 1800s and 1600s and things of that nature was going around, you know, and capturing runaway slaves who have some people not to say, you see, I didn't say police, but some people who still have certain mindsets. stereotypes, you know, when it comes to people, that's a minority status man. And I think that's wrong, you know, so I just, I really couldn't, I really couldn't explain it to us entirety flowing man, it was it was hard. And especially I mean, you got to think so I went from happy to say it. Now I'm in tears talking to myself, you know, because I got to prepare him just like you said, you prepare your son, or your child, rather, you know, to say, hey, if you get pulled over, here's a registration, here's the proof for insurance and get us to him, you get your ticket, and you come home? Well, for me, that conversation is different, like I just said, I had to let him know, hey, you know, turn the car off, roll all the windows done, don't have your music glass, you know, don't do this, or don't do that. Or, you know, don't ask as many questions just, you know, just just do this, or don't speak with aggression, or, you know, don't Don't cry, or Don't be nervous, not gonna dehumanizing, you know, he's a human, he's a human, all of these are emotions that anybody will have, I mean, he'll be a, we're adults at times, you know, you run a stop sign, you know, when a cop get behind you, you know, you're gonna get a sense of nervousness, like, oh, man, I'm gonna get a ticket, you know, but for me, that could be that could be different, you know, I have to move in a cautious way. Because I understand that, you know, if that that person that's behind that badge at that particular time, if our views and our values are not aligned, where he don't see me as a person versus, you know, something else, then I understand that this this interaction can be, it can have some hell of a consequences behind it now.
Bill Krieger (Host)
Well, and I can see the difficulty there, because on the one hand, this is a great moment to teach your, your son or your child about stereotypes, right. On the other hand, you don't know, you don't know if that person they're interacting with is going to be that stereotypical person. So it's, it's really difficult, and I will share with you, when I was younger, a lot younger, probably 100 years ago, now, I was probably about 10, or 11. I used to deliver newspapers, and I lived in a very rough part of Lansing, not that Lansing is a rough city. But we have some areas that are not all that great. And I every Friday, I would go out. And I would collect from my customers, the two or three bucks or whatever they owed me for their newspaper. And, as part, I'm finishing up my my route, and these two kids on 10, speed bike bicycles come along, and they're probably 18, maybe 19. And they robbed me. It was an armed robbery. And I'm thinking to myself, what kind of a person steals 10 bucks 10 bucks from, you know, an 11 year old kid. And both of these guys, honestly, they were they were two black guys, it was the neighborhood I grew up in and we all knew each other. That was the crazy thing. But very easily from that moment in my life, I could have said, This is what black people are going to do to me very easily. But going through the talking to my parents and how the police actually handled it, I was able to see that there are bad people. In all all makes and models. There are bad people all over. So it's not the job they do. It's not the color of their skin. It's the person and we haven't we really have to look at each person as an individual. But the hard part is, in your case, you see all of these things going on around you. So you want to on the one hand, tell your son to be careful. On the other hand, hypocritically you don't want to say you have to judge all police officers based on what these other you know, couple of people did. So that's got to be really hard for you as a father.
Noah Coleman
Yeah, it is. You know, before I touch on that, though, it's funny, because this is why I really like to have this conversation with you. Because every time we talk, I learned something about you. And you learned something about me. And just that experience that you just said, I had the same experience when I was a kid, you know, and it was a paper route. You know, me and my God, Brother, you know, we were down. And I believe we were in Ferndale, if I'm not mistaken, but however, I remember like it was yesterday, I was nine years old and he was 13 at the time, and we did our paper or whatever we was going around collecting and I was holding the money. I was holding the money we were walking and all of a sudden, you know, I see a guy jogging up, you know, through firing the ice and jogging. Again, I'm a kid not thinking he ran right past me and snatched the money out of my hand and kept on going. And, uh, you know, again, you know, so yeah, he you know, he robbed us too. It wasn't an armed robbery. But again, he robbed us to know took it from us, you know, and I was very, very hard behind that too. But I was also confused too, because at the time, the person who robbed that he went, he wasn't glad he was like, no. And so I'm glad that I had that experience. Also, you know, and I'm glad that you just shared that too because we just touched on how you know, we know pray, stare at play. stereotypes on people. And when we judge, you know, a group of people, you know that certain, someone else's experience or whatever, you know, it allows us to become like you said, you know, hypocritical, but at the same time when you judge a person you don't define, you know, them, you define you, you know, when you judge a person, you don't define them, you define you. And really, it shows just how shallow and how narrow of assessment that you have of an entire group of people, you know, But to your point, yes, it's very hard to talk to my mom keep my kid now, about, we're not just him, but all of them again, my kids are 2217 and my nine year old twins who always ask the question as to why why, why, why why? Oh, yeah, just some time, sometimes. Well, I had to, you know, cut it off, because I'd be stuffing me Do they stop me? You know,
Bill Krieger (Host)
that's what they do. They try to find that one question that dad doesn't know the answer to. Right.
Noah Coleman
Right. But it's very hard, man. Because, again, like I said, everything is on the internet. Now, you know, and, you know, not even so much on the internet. But I mean, what we see, you know, so, you know, look at the emphasis that's going on the Internet and on the news right now. And let's just say if those, you know, instances didn't happen, and we didn't, we didn't see him, you know, or, you know, like they are right now. I mean, will we even be having this this podcast right now, we even be having this discussion right now, you know, probably not, let's just be, you know, just being honest, probably not. But, you know, by coming out there like that, you know, it poses or it puts the pressure, so to speak out there where you have to talk about it, you know, you have to be able to, you know, navigate your way through, don't talk to my kids, when I tell you, I really wish you to have a conversation with him sometime. Because they really have me thinking man, they really, really have me thinking, but it can be very, very hard as a parent trying to break those up, break down those barriers, that was built up. And truthfully, I didn't even know my son was feeling like this until that day, you know, I really didn't I like I said, I'm not that that parent, I sit at home and say, Oh, this group of people is bad, or that person that I'm not, I don't do that, you know, I do not do that I'm really the guy in the parent who always try to give someone grace, always try to set a positive example. Always try to, to show them, what you put out in the universe is what you will get back, you know, and I mean, we was just that I have, you know, yesterday was Father's Day, you know, we go to I happen, it's Sunday, we put up my 17 year old is $84 sitting in the parking lot in the street. And I mean, right in the parking lot next to the, you know, where I parked at my sanctuary to get out of the Oh, man that I found at $4. And I say NASA? No, you didn't? Cuz like, What do you mean? So I'm like, I had to give them a, you know, a lesson in the universe. I said, Man, we're gonna take this at $4, we're gonna grab her ID, you know, he's gonna take it in, I hop and we're going to give them give this to the lady, you know, to, you know, to the manager in Ohio, and I have to reach out to them and let them know, because I don't ever want my son to think that, you know, that money was free. Right? It wasn't that money wasn't free if he took that money, right, and when it cost him something later on in life, and that's what I will hope that everybody continue to, or the way I will hope that everybody will move to wildlife period, you know, whether you're a police officer, whether you were working at the fire department, but I mean, whatever the case, may be, I would always hope that whatever you put out in the universe, man, you know, it's always positive. So you can set a positive example for everybody else. And that's just the father that I try to do. Well, and you
Bill Krieger (Host)
know, going back to 84 bucks that he found in the street, that might be the only money that whoever dropped that has that might be the difference between eating today and not eating today. That might be the difference between staying in your apartment and not staying in your apartment. I mean, who knows? What that meant to somebody. And what a great lesson to teach your son is that just because it's laying here doesn't mean it's yours?
Noah Coleman
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I mean, I try my best to do good deeds, especially, you know, listen, like, you know, and I hate to keep bouncing from topic to topic. But, you know, even when we go back, and we talk about the police system, you know, I was in lanesboro. And, you know, you know, again, very rural area, and it's not a not a lot of blacks out there, you know, so it's a lot of cornfields just being honest, not to say that, you know, everybody out there is gonna prejudge me or anybody with pre judgment, you know, but again, you know, I go out here and I pull over and I see a police officer sent to the side by subway, so I go in, up by my food, and I come out and I had a conversation with him. I didn't notice police officers from a canopy, but also thank you, you know, I thanked him for, you know, for service. I thanked him for what he do, you know, I let him know that I understand that have we in right now, you know, our heavy, you know, um, his job is probably extremely stressful. You know, I also let him know that. I know that, you know, in 2020 there was like, 306 or so police officer that was killed in my line of duty. So I understand that, you know, they put their life on the line for us every single day. You know, but the reason I sparked that conversation with him is because just in case, just in case he was the type of person to say, you know, we're all this people are that are that, you know, I'm saying this, you know, black people are there. Now, let me let me show you an example of a great one. You know, because I consider myself as being great, I consider myself as somebody who anybody can come talk to, you know, and I pride myself on, you know, just giving people a fair, a fair assessment, you know, I don't want to go off of what experience that I had with somebody else, you know, so we talked, we talked for quite some time, and come to find out, he was the chief of police, he was still, you know, right and right around, right. And tickets, you know, he know, he basically said it like, Man, you know, he thanked me, got out the car, shook my hand, thanked me for you know, just be willing to just spark the conversation and just talk to him. You know, I feel like, if, if we stop judging people, I stopped stereotyping people, all aspects man, you know, if the possibilities are endless for what is country and when is working really, really go man, you know, and it's not just limited to the police force, it's on all aspects man, you know, I think we really put ourselves in a box, when again, when we go to that narrow assessment and say that all, whatever is a certain way, or whoever is a certain way, and this, that's not true, you know, so, you know, I try to give my kids real life examples as to how you should, you know, move accordingly out here. And, you know, to your point that 88, or $84, that I found in the parking lot, was just another way of me showing them like, just because you see, see Atlanta there, that doesn't mean it's yours, it doesn't mean it's free, you know, it doesn't mean you could take and go buy you some shoes, or none of that. And what it means is, to your point, somebody that could have been somebody last, you know, it could have been, you know, the difference between, you know, eating, not eating, or, you know, having a place to stay for tonight, or not having a place to stay for tonight, you know, that could have been somebody, let's just say hotel money or whatever, you know, for them to get around for the night. It's a great example to set for your Kids.
Bill Krieger (Host)
And, you know, going back to the conversation that you had with the police officer in waynesburg, I mean, you know, just going up and being friendly, sometimes is all that somebody you don't know what kind of day they're having. And that might that might make a difference to them, that someone just came up and was kind to them. You know, if you think about when people talk about random acts of kindness, you know, just engaging with someone like that can be a random act of kindness, depending on what they're going through. It also might change minds. Yeah, absolutely. It might also change mine. So I mean, those are all good things. So as we get close to the end of the podcast, because we only have so much time, and I know that you and I could talk for hours, because that's just how it works. I do want to say, though, you're right, every time you and I talk, I learned something new. It's usually something that says okay, this is why this is why we're closer than we that we think we are, because I had no idea that you delivered papers as a kid. And I had no idea that you went through that same thing that I did, just kind of in a different neighborhood, different circumstances, but really the same outcome. So it just, it just reminds me of why why we are brothers. In the we have shared experiences, but but we're different to
Noah Coleman
absolutely not think we're different. You know, but at the same time, I also think that there's beauty in that, you know, I hear that she's she's probably going to get on me when I say our quote right here, but, you know, shout out to Tiger Berry. Because after she said it, I'm like, man, I really live like that. But she says it all the time, find joy in everything you do. And when the first time I heard her say it, I'm like, Man, that's, that's really how I live my life anyway, you know, but I find joy in the fact that you know, me, and you've had the same experiences, even though we're different, we live in different sides of the state, you know, different areas is still beauty in, in our different perspective is beauty and artists and experiences, you know, and us as a team as we move forward, not just me and you, I'm talking about all of us, you know, as a world as a population as a people, we need to we really need to get outside of our own our own box, you know, because we, we put a cylinder around us, right, you know, we put a circle around us, and we don't want to step outside of that. But you know, we really, we kind of were limiting ourselves, you know, and we're not really you know, say maximizing our full potential by embracing new perspectives and new thoughts and just give somebody a chance, you know, give me a chance. Now, if I if you give me a chance to not show you a different side, then that's one thing, but don't judge me off of somebody else's experiences. Like I said, you know, when I said it earlier, you know, when you when you have a preconceived judgment or you know, you stereotype somebody or you just somebody, you don't define that person or that individual, really define yourself. Because when you have that conversation with that person that you judged, you realize, man, this person is not as bad as I perceived them to be, or, you know, this person doesn't fit into that category, or that stereotype that I perceived them to be. So I would just ask everybody, you know, on the call that's listening, please stretch your mind. You know, special, you know, your reach, you know, reach out there, you know, challenge yourself to just learn something new about somebody totally different than you, somebody that you you feel as if you wouldn't, you wouldn't think you have anything in common with and not a problem. You'd be surprised.
Bill Krieger (Host)
Yes, I think there's value in walking a mile in someone else's shoes for sure. Thanks again, Noah for taking time out to be on the podcast. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast as well. And thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And thank you to the audience for tuning in today. Remember, you can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. And be sure to take a few minutes and fill out our survey to let us know how we're doing. That can be found at HTTP, colon slash slash bi T dot L y slash me, dash while you dash us. And remember to tune in every Wednesday when we talk about the things that impact your personal well being.