BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 46 - The Bionic Man with a Golden Heart: The Jason Koger Story
Jason Koger Joins Hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr on the BeTempered Podcast for a Powerful Conversation on Resilience and Purpose
In this unforgettable episode of the BeTempered Podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr welcome back Jason Koger, whose extraordinary journey of recovery and purpose delivers a masterclass in resilience. After a life-altering accident with a downed power line that surged 7,200 volts through his body, Jason became the world’s first bilateral bionic hand recipient. But his story goes far beyond groundbreaking technology.
With raw honesty and powerful insight, Jason recounts his path from those desperate early days—battling insurance denials for prosthetics—to becoming a prosthetic technology tester and an inspirational speaker. “It’s not just about the hands,” Jason shares as he demonstrates adaptive equipment like attachments for golf, softball, and bowling. Each piece is a testament to both innovation and his unwavering drive to reclaim a full and active life.
What truly sets Jason apart is his passion for helping others. Whether flying across the country to assist a fellow amputee or welcoming a young person into his home for mentorship, Jason is on a mission to ensure no one feels alone in their struggle. “I never want somebody to feel like I did, that I was the only one in the world,” he says.
The episode dives deep as Jason reflects on the meaning of passion, referencing Tim Tebow’s interpretation of its Latin roots—“to suffer.” In Jason’s words, real passion is found not just in victories but in the willingness to push through pain and setbacks. His perspective offers inspiration to anyone facing adversity, not just those with physical disabilities.
Connect with Jason at jasonkoger.com or follow him on social media to learn more about his story, book, and speaking opportunities. Through his example, and in conversation with Dan and Ben, this episode reminds us that our greatest purpose often rises from our greatest challenges—and that we’re all stronger together.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 3:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 2:We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives.
Speaker 3:This is Be Tempered.
Speaker 2:What's up everybody? Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 46. 46, rolling right along. We're almost to episode 52. We are, which means that's a year. Yep, yeah, we're getting close. We're getting close. Time flies when you're having fun.
Speaker 4:It is. Yeah, Jason, how are you? I'm great.
Speaker 2:Man, it's good to have you back. Everybody we've got for round number two. He's back up in the area to do a couple speaking engagements. But Mr Jason Koger from Owensboro Kentucky yes, jason Koger from Owensboro Kentucky. Yes, thanks for having me back. Yeah, man, so you were here. I don't know what episode that was. Ben didn't even know what episode today is, so 37.
Speaker 4:Oh, you were here with Jeff and uh doing some hunting and uh, we had a pretty good time. Yeah, absolutely had a good three days three, four days yeah, good experience.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, kind of kind of grew this friendship as, as you know, the past six months have went along and and then from that it was like hey, I'll come back. And um, so today, while we're recording this afternoon, we're going to be headed over to another local high school where you're going to give another inspirational talk, to kind of tell your story.
Speaker 2:So for those who haven't heard Jason's story, the complete story, you want to go back to that episode and listen, but give a little, just kind of a quick synopsis of your story and then, if you're watching on YouTube, if you're not, I encourage you to get on. We've got some of these prosthetics that allow Jason to do things that we all take for granted you know, having both of our arms and our hands and everything else. So we'll talk about those things, but just give a quick little synopsis of your story.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I'm from Owensboro, Kentucky. I was in the construction field, I was a pipe fitter and then, March 1st 2008, I went on a quick four-wheeler ride around my grandfather's farm and I came in contact with a downed power line. It took 7,200 volts of electricity and in order to save my life, they had to amputate both of my arms. I became the first person in the world with two bionic hands. And you know, through the story, through the last time we talked, obviously there was a lot of faith. You know you have to believe and I know last time we talked about John 13, 7, that basically says that you may not understand now, but one day you will. And that's kind of something that's always been in my mind is, I think I know my purpose now, but maybe I don't, you know, maybe there's still a lot more out there. And, um, you know I've had opportunities to meet a lot of people. Uh, I spoke last night at a local church here and I got to explain, uh, one story that, uh, that I did an episode on Hawaii Five-0. I did the Hookman episode and became real good friends with Peter Weller, which was RoboCop, and last night I was speaking about this and I told people that Peter Weller decided he wanted to come to Owensboro, Kentucky, and visit me.
Speaker 4:Long and short. He came in. I asked him. I said why do you want to come to Owensboro? Long and short. He came in. I asked him. I said why do you want to come to Owensboro? And his words were I wanted to surround myself with people you surround yourself with, and it hit me in a way that you know.
Speaker 4:Sometimes we think about celebrities, we think about man. Wouldn't it be nice to be that person? I wish I could be him. And, um, and you never think that your story is ever going to be that impactful, because you're from a small hometown, Owensboro, Kentucky. Uh, just an old pipe fitter, yet a celebrity like Peter Weller, and it's been several others.
Speaker 4:Um, and I'm not, uh, name dropping, I'm not bragging about being able to meet some of these people, but it's cool when he told me that, because people like him need people like me too, and I try to tell people that it's so important to know that we are all important people, no matter our profession, how much money we got, we're on TV every day, it doesn't matter. And it really opened my eyes to a lot of people, because I have literally got to meet people with a ton of money, with no money celebrities, NFL, NBA, MLB, hockey. Like every walk of life, I have got to meet these people and I've got to realize that we all have one thing in common we all got to have each other, and the more that we can share our lives with other people, the better off this world is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's so true. I mean, we talked about it this morning on on the way to breakfast, about how you know, the biggest thing that I've learned through doing the podcast is that a lot of people are struggling, you know, and and what. What they may look as at as as a struggle to them may not be a struggle to others, but, regardless, that doesn't matter. We still need each other. We still need to um, to be there for each other. We still need to hear stories about you, about other people who have been through things that we can't even imagine, to show us that, okay, that's not that big of a deal what I'm going through. I'm going to get through it, and the important thing is just taking one step at a time and to continue to move forward. And that's what you did with losing your arms. Right, it wasn't something where you lost your arms. You get your prosthetics and you're a master at it. Talk about that journey, of how you looked at that and taking that step every day.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I tell people I'd only met one person in my life that's lost an arm, and that was my grandfather, and he passed away before I got hurt. But he lost his left arm in a corn picker and my entire life. Growing up I was 29 years old Whenever I got hurt. He was actually 29 when he got hurt as well, and you know this whole time you're um, you know I'm watching my grandfather still cut tobacco and pick up hay and all this stuff, but I never asked him questions, so I got injured and then I start thinking like man.
Speaker 4:I wish I had somebody to talk to. I don't have anybody. I don't know anybody else that's ever lost an arm. I literally felt like I was the only person in the world that lost an arm. Now because Papa passed away and started looking into prosthetics, which Papa had the old Civil War body powered hook and I still have those as well. But I started looking into insurance and I found out about a bionic hand. I was like that's what I want. I had a 21 month old little girl at home. I had a three month old little girl at home. I was told I would never, never have any more kids and I got a son. Now that's 13.
Speaker 4:I wanted, you know I think we all envision what kind of a dad we want to be Um, you know, I wanted to be able to still do sports. I still wanted to be able to do all the things I want to do with a son or and my daughters, you know. So I started asking about these bionic hands, cause I thought, man, that would be so much easier to be able to hold my kid's hand walk across the street and I tried to get prosthetics and I get denied every single time. So three or four times getting denied with prosthetics and they said that it wasn't medically necessary for me to have prosthetics. I, finally, I was in the union. I was pipe fitter, like I'd said a minute ago, and the UA president, mark McManus, is his name. Mark McManus had heard my story, I'm assuming. He did some calls and I got accepted to get bionic hands. So I became the first person in the world with the bionic hands, just because my insurance said yes.
Speaker 4:The problem with prosthetics is you might go to a prosthetist on a street corner that gets the opportunity to do legs every single day and has never done an arm. They are still a prosthetist and I wish that they would break it down to you. Know a doctor's? A doctor is what everybody thinks. But are you going to go to a knee doctor to get a heart transplant? No Same thing with prosthetics. So a lot of people.
Speaker 4:What happens is somebody will make a prosthetic, an upper limb prosthetic. A guy will go home with a $150,000 hand and never wear it because the socket is not comfortable. Well, that that amputee doesn't know it's supposed to be comfortable. I mean, it's a foreign object on your arm. I had that opportunity to go to a guy that does nothing but upper extremity. So it's very comfortable. It's supposed to be comfortable. I wear them 16, 17, 18 hours a day. I don't take them off. I mean, I wear prosthetics every single day.
Speaker 4:So what bothers me is if somebody says, yeah, I'm gonna buy this a hundred thousand dollar hand for his kid and it's in his closet, well then the next person that goes to this insurance company and this I don't even know what they are, what they're called adjusters or somebody that accepts whether they get something or not they say, well, Joe Blow had an arm I spent $150,000 on and it stays in his closet. I'm not buying another one. So they think that the terminal in the hand is junk and it's really the cheapest part of the whole process. Is the socket? Yeah, and it really stinks. So I really try to fight for insurance and I really try to fight for people to go to the right person and make sure they're fitted right, because that affects me. But it gave me the opportunity to work for the Bionic Hand Company and now I get to test stuff and I get companies send me stuff wanting me to try it out, and it's awesome that I get opportunities to try so many things out.
Speaker 4:And the next thing about prosthetics is yes, I got these really cool arms, myoelectric, bionic hand, but you still got to have the body part stuff too, so you don't have to worry about dirt water, whatever. I can still throw baseballs with my, with my son, uh and I and I talked about my son now, cause my girls aren't doing that kind of stuff, but you know, I can still shoot basketball, um, I can hunt, I can fish. There's nothing I can't do, right. But you have to have multiple tools, cause it's like building a house. You can't build a house with just a hammer. You got to have more than a hammer. And I don't like, personally, I don't like adaptive equipment, so I don't wear adaptive equipment all the time, but sometimes I do have to, and we'll get into that in a minute too. But it's really cool where this prosthetic world has gone. I mean, the technology is unbelievable.
Speaker 2:Well, and as you say that if you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening, I encourage you to go to YouTube and see some of these adaptive parts right. So kind of talk about what we've got sitting here on the table and what they do and what they've allowed you to do.
Speaker 4:Yep. So I got asked to do a celebrity softball tournament and I got to play with some people like Michael Irving, zeke Elliott, you know, with the Cowboys, several major league baseball players, hockey, nfl, and whenever I was going to go to this thing I was like you know, I don't know how well I'll be able to catch. I can throw a ball with my body part stuff, I don't have to have an adaptive equipment, but how am I going to catch a ball? How am I going to hit a baseball? So I went to this event and the thing that Dan's holding right now is the actual glove that goes on my left arm, it goes on my left prosthetic. And I told them whenever I played this celebrity softball tournament put me in right field, because not a lot of stuff goes to right field. And the first thing it was Gordy Gronkowski, and Gordy Gronkowski, which is Rob Gronkowski, you know all the Gronk brothers he hit the ball and I think it was him that it went right field and I was like crap, I got to catch this thing.
Speaker 4:And I caught the ball with that adaptive equipment piece right there which looks like a lacrosse.
Speaker 2:That's what I thought it was when you pulled it out of the bag.
Speaker 4:yeah, and I caught the ball and Zeke Elliott walked up with the Cowboys and he smacked me on the butt and he said dude, that was the coolest thing that I've ever seen in my life. So that's the glove, and then down, that holds the ball. The softball, I think it's inside. So that's how I throw a softball. The idea of that is, like you know, you can put a frisbee inside for a dog and whenever you throw it and you stop your arm, the frisbee comes out. That is basically the exact same concept. So when I throw, once I stop my arm, the ball comes out. So obviously you've got to know where to stop or you're going to throw it straight in the ground.
Speaker 2:Maybe'll throw it to kevin on the other side of the glass. Go for it.
Speaker 4:So it's super cool that that's how I throw a softball. And then this piece right here is how you hold the bat. Now the problem with that piece is I think it was intended for somebody that only lost one arm. So now I can't put two hands on a bat, so that bat may hit the umpire or it may hit the pitcher. I don't know where the bat's going to go away.
Speaker 4:I have to make sure I hit the ball first off or the bat might go yeah, no telling where, but super cool. So the next piece that Dan's holding that is a bowling attachment. Basically I wear it in my prosthetic. That is the old time with the cable. And when I pull the cable it releases the bushing that is inside the bowling ball, and when you're not pulling the cable the bushings spread. You know it's tight, so it spreads out and it holds inside the ball. The problem is you gotta uh make sure that it's loose enough.
Speaker 2:But stiff, tight enough, yes.
Speaker 4:And there's a fine line and you adjust it at the end with a wrench, with a wrench yeah. And you know, so far the ball has came out of it. But I'm thinking, one of these days you're liable to see me and the ball Go flying down the alley.
Speaker 2:Look like Superman. That will be today. That will be today. Yeah, We'll get some film on that.
Speaker 4:But then you know, I've never played golf. I never was a big golfer, but Ping actually sent me some golf clubs and an adaptive equipment that goes inside my socket, which is in the truck that we're going to try to hit today. I haven't been able to do it very many times, so it's going to take a minute for me to get used to it. But you know all these companies Ping and Softball, they make a basketball arm, they make everything, and it's really to get people back to doing what they love.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's as you're talking. I'm sitting here thinking, you know, if there's someone out there who has lost an arm right and they feel like, man, I can't, I can't do the things I used to do, or I can't do the things that my friends do, I mean here, here's proof that there are all kinds of different apparatuses out there that will allow you to yeah, it's going to be different, right, but you're still going to be able to to do those things. That's what's really cool about seeing all these things. And hopefully, if, if you know someone out there that that um has an amputation of any sorts, that um, you know, it's kind of down in the dumps Maybe this is a way that you can kind of get them back in action, to be like, hey, we can go out and pass the ball. I mean that's a pretty cool thing that that um, you know, these companies come up with.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you know, last time we talked about failure, and failure is one of the best things you can do, as long as you're strong enough to learn from it and all this stuff that you get. You're not going to put it on and be in the major leagues or in the NBA as an amputee. It takes a long time to get used to it, because you've got to figure out those spots where your arm needs to stop for the ball to come out. I mean, you know it's a training. This is just tools to help you do it, and the rest of it is your mindset. And I tell people all the time, man, a mindset is what makes you successful. Um, being able to believe that there is a purpose for your life and know that God has a bigger plan than what you got, and all those things, is what makes you successful or not successful. And you know I get to talk to amputees all the time and I'm not the only upper limb amputee in the world. I mean I figured that out, but now I make sure that people know how to find me and get a hold to me because I want to help them and I've made it where I never want somebody to be like I lost two fingers.
Speaker 4:I'm not going to talk to Jason. I mean, he lost two arms. It doesn't matter if you lose two fingers one finger yeah, maybe my accident was worse or maybe it is worse to lose two hands, but you still lost something. I'm still willing to help you. You lose one arm same thing. I don't want you to not talk to me because you look at me and be like, oh, same thing. I don't want you to not talk to me because you look at me and be like, oh wow, he doesn't have any arms and I'm only crying about one. You still lost something. Um, you know, and we all need each other. So it doesn't matter whose accident. Um was worse.
Speaker 2:You still got to have each other. That's right. You know, yeah, and and you know that kind of leads into something we were talking about this morning on the way over is you know, you spoke at the church last night and you talked about the peace offering that they gave you Kind of talk about that and what you do with that. Because I think what's amazing about you and I know there's many people out there that give back like you do but I think you go a little bit above and beyond in some situations because if you talk about that peace offering and kind of talk about what you do with that to give back to those people who are really struggling, and specifically into the story about the lady going into the AT&T store- so kind of talk about that.
Speaker 4:So, you know, whenever I first became an amputee, I told my wife I want to be the best prosthetic user in the world and I think in the back of my mind I was thinking it's not going to be that hard because I'm the only one. And after I started, you know, I think people from the last time you know I was on CNN, I've been on Dr Gupta've been on Hawaii Five-0, movie with Matthew McConaughey, apple commercials on Super Bowl, like all these things, has really pushed my story and me doing the public speaking and podcast and it opened up a door for me to see that there's a lot more people out there like me and I knew right then, from very early on, I want to be that encouragement for people. I want to help people. I want people to not feel like I did, that I was the only one in the world and I want to help them be successful. You know I knew how to do everything on my own. I could travel on my own, I can dress myself, I can use the bathroom, I can do everything on myself.
Speaker 4:And so I started reaching out Like if I hear a news article about somebody that lost an arm. I'm like a creeper, I mean, dude, I am Facebook following, trying to find, trying to get a hold of and and I tell them it's like, hey, if you need me, I'm here, like that's what I want. I want them to know I'm here and I've had opportunity for a lot of those people find me too, I think. If you Google, uh, bilateral arm amputee or something I'm like one of the first pops up. So people find me that way. They write me on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, whatever it is, and I always respond and I think it blows them away. It's like, man, I never thought you'd ever respond. You did that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4:And I always respond. So I had a lady in Kansas City that was at AT&T and a guy came in with a gun. He was going to shoot up the place. She tried to run out the back door. She got shot so many times that all the blood tried to keep her organs alive so they quit, going to her extremities. She lost all four, both arms, both legs.
Speaker 4:Retired school teacher, um. So I found out about her. Uh, her daughter actually reached out to me and I flew to Kansas City and I spent the weekend at her house and I taught her how to eat. I explained to her how I got dressed like I want. I wanted to help her be a person that could take care of herself again, instead of somebody doing everything for her. She got her driver's license, like she's. You know, she's living life now Again. It's not super easy, but she's doing it.
Speaker 4:Then I had a kid from New Mexico that his mom and dad reached out to me and I think this kid didn't really want to go to school anymore. I don't know if other kids were making fun of him or if he just didn't feel good about himself. So I flew him to Owensboro where I live. Spend the weekend with me. We didn't do anything except going bowling, eating, hanging out, but when he left he was smiling and I feel like he went home and really was like you know what I got? Prosthetics. I'm going to be proud of myself and I'm going to live my life and if somebody doesn't like me or doesn't like the way I look, don't look at me.
Speaker 4:That's right, don't like me, you still got to keep moving because there's a hundred other people that want to talk to you and want to be friends with you. Don't worry about that one person and want to be friends with you don't worry about that one person you know. So I get the opportunity to share my story with people like that. Bring them in or me, fly to them and man, it means so much to me too, you know, and while I got these arms, I got my arm on the table as well. So a lot of people don't know how prosthetics work.
Speaker 4:But basically there's two sensors inside the socket, and when I feel like I raise my wrist, it opens, and when I lower my wrist, it closes. And then I have wrist rotators. So when I go co-contract and when I lower my wrist, I'm just holding my wrist down. That's all I'm doing. And then like raising my wrist so right, holding my wrist down, that's all I'm doing. And then like raising my wrist, so right now, my hand is doing 360 open, close. It's all muscles. Uh, so that's basically how my electrics work.
Speaker 2:so it's super cool yeah, talk about when you uh, you told me the story about you're. You're riding in a car with a buddy or something in In the car next to you there's a little kid over watching you Talk about that.
Speaker 4:So we get to a stoplight and this kid in the back seat's looking and I tell my buddy he's driving. I'm in the passenger seat, so my right arm's in my hand, and I was like, watch this, I'm going to mess with this kid. So I raised my arm up and he could see my bionic up. And he could see my bionic and I just started rotating. I rotated it all the way around and then I put it down where you couldn't see it. So the kid is moving his mouth. I'm sure he's telling his mom, mom that dude just turned his hand all the way around and she looks over him. He's like what are you talking about? So anyway, as soon as they get done talking, the mom quits looking. I raise my arm back up and I do it again.
Speaker 4:And then I set it down and the kid's like mom, I'm telling you the dude is like so I mean I bet her mom. I bet the mom was like what is wrong with you? Somebody didn't just turn their hand all the way around in a circle.
Speaker 2:That's good, all right. So you know, since the last time you're here, we've had many conversations, probably weekly, and there was a time I don't even know how we got to it, but you were talking about your family, the Coger family. You were talking it's an unbelievable story, but talk about how maybe the family was perceived because of this uncle. And then I want everybody, once they hear the story, to recognize how the family is perceived now because of some of the things that you have been through, because of some of the things that you have been through. So kind of talk about that story and about your uncle and your family.
Speaker 4:So you know my dad was raised up very poor. In 1984, he started his own company with $1,500 was his name. My dad was a drill sergeant in the Army. He was the oldest sibling. Everybody looked up to him in his family. He was a self-provider since the age of 13. He would pick weeds out of a bean field for people or cut tobacco or whatever he had to do, probably drove when he wasn't supposed to before he was 16. Literally he was a cell provider.
Speaker 4:My grandparents are great people, you know what I mean. They just didn't have a lot of stuff. And then my uncles. I have three uncles and then an aunt, so there was a total of four of them. I'm not counting my dad, so it was three uncles, one aunt and you know, growing up we were a very, very close family and you know, no matter, I feel like a lot of people knew my family cause my dad was very active in the community. When my dad started his construction company he really started um, giving back to the community, community Christmas wish, you know all that kind of stuff and I got to watch that, which was really cool.
Speaker 4:My grandparents had never owned their own house. My dad bought the first house, the first amount of money he made. He bought a house and gave it to my grandparents so they got to live in a house that they didn't have to worry about turning on electricity, turn it off and owning something you know. But my uncle one of my uncles well, I had. So my dad was a pipe fitter. I was a pipe fitter. I got an uncle that was a bullemaker another bullemaker. My grandfather was an electrician. I had another uncle that was a tinkster, so we had all trades figured out.
Speaker 4:But my uncle, dwight one of the best guys you can meet just you know he's great and he got involved in some bad stuff. You know, some drugs and really I don't know if he was ever a user or not, but he hung out with some pretty rough people. Um, I remember growing up and seeing some of these people that he was hanging out with and just hearing that you know it was trouble and, um, it was January 6th or it was, um, it was before January 6th, maybe a few weeks before that. My uncle was at Christmas.
Speaker 4:Um, I was probably I don't know 12 years old, 11, 12 years old, and my uncle would not come into the room where we were opening gifts and we were a pretty tight family, you know, and I thought, man, that's kind of weird. So I went to the kitchen and my uncle was kind of bent over and I seen this pistol in the back of his pants and I grabbed it and I was like, what are you doing with a pistol? And he said, man, sometimes you got to take care of yourself, you know. And I thought, all right, cool, you know. I mean, I really didn't think nothing about it. Well, january 6th came that morning and my uncle actually came by the house.
Speaker 4:And I'll take it back. On January 5th my uncle came by my house and he was like hey, I want you to know that I'm going to Eastern Kentucky. We had some family in Eastern Kentucky. Eastern Kentucky is pretty rough, you know what I mean. You don't mess with people in Eastern Kentucky. And so, anyway, he said I think I'm going to go to Eastern Kentucky. And he said I just want you to know I love you. He said you never know what's going to happen in your life. You know from day to day, you just don't know. And I just want you to know that I love you. If I don't ever see you again, I just want you to know that. So January 6th morning, early morning, phone rang at our house and my dad answered. And here I am, a nosy little 11, 12-year-old kid. I pick up the phone house phone. We didn't have cell phones then.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I pick it up and I hear you know this is sheriff's department Uh, your brother, Dwight, has been in a shooting. And I thought, oh, my gosh man, and I knew my uncle had been in some stuff. My, my dad didn't let me really hang out with my uncle a whole lot by self, but still loved him. Uh, I remember going to the hospital. Uh, I remember, uh, dwight getting to the hospital, going into surgery and as he was in surgery, you know, we had some police officers asking us questions and come to find out there was at least two people that was in the shooting. Well, we were sitting there thinking, wow, somebody came in and shot my uncle, shot this other guy, and thinking, wow, somebody came in and shot my uncle, shot this other guy. And so, um, we started learning more about it.
Speaker 4:My uncle got out of surgery and I remember going into the room and people calling my dad saying, hey, you need to take pictures of your brother for evidence. And I remember, um, seeing my uncle's chest and he had bite marks all over his chest. And I remember seeing his hands and the end of his hands had gunpowder and and kind of messed up on the end of his hands. And then I remember there was a bullet hole right below it, right below his belly button, and it exited his left butt cheek. And then I remember seeing um, his privates like swollen and black and blue where he had got kicked and beaten. I mean it was just a broken nose, black eyes. I mean he was just unbelievable what it looked like and found out later on that this guy and my uncle were buddies and they were both, I'm sure, doing stuff they weren't supposed to be doing. I'm assuming, and nobody will ever know, because the other guy passed away, I'm assuming that it was a bad deal went on and I don't know, I don't know what happened, but I know that one guy died and my uncle was beaten to death and um, you know, I was around, went to court every day with all this and found out that the guy that passed um was the other person that my uncle. They got in a fight and um, my uncle was protecting himself and um, you know, this guy died and my uncle was beaten so bad and long and short, uh, he went to prison, uh, for manslaughter.
Speaker 4:And I grew up seeing my uncle going to prison, going to visit him, hearing those doors shut behind you, you know, watching, you know my cousins, you know his kids grow up without a dad. Um, I mean, man, it was awful, you know. I mean it's just awful. And I tell people sometimes about my uncle and it's like they're like, and when I tell them like he's one of the best guys you could ever meet, like he would literally do anything for anybody, he just got the the wrong stuff, you know, and it caught up with him eventually and I remember like I'm never going to live my life like this, ever, even though I loved him to death. I mean I've learned a lot of stuff through him.
Speaker 4:And, um, and my uncle's passed away. Now, uh, he passed away, uh, I don't know less than a year ago, you know a few months ago, and spent his whole life in prison, got out and immediately had a stroke and lived his last few years in a nursing home and it's like man, you know, here I am 12, 13 years old and I got to see this my whole life and I feel like growing up at 12, 13, 14 years old, people knew who my family was because they knew we were good people. 14 years old, people knew who my family was because they knew we were good people. But I'm sure that there were parents like I don't know if I need my kid to hang out with them, I don't care if they hang out with Jason, but maybe not at his house. There were some people that wasn't like that as well, but you just always felt like, uh, people were judging.
Speaker 4:And then you know, people learn who my dad is. My dad was a county commissioner and my dad was always doing great stuff for a lot of people. And then my accident happened and you know I did several events where a RoboCop came into my house and we did an event called Handing, where I raised eighteen thousand dollars and I gave eighteen thousand dollars to my you know seven different local charities. And then it was twenty one thousand dollars and I gave, uh, twenty one thousand to the elementary schools for Christmas wish. And I tell those stories, um, not because I'm proud of what happened back then, obviously, and my dad definitely. I mean he, he wasn't proud of what had happened, but he still loved his brother and sometimes you just got to learn from mistakes. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect.
Speaker 2:No, and you're right, and you know, I think the importance of that story is that you know we all have family members that you know right, wrong, good, bad, indifferent We've all done things we probably shouldn't have done. But what I, what I think is important to that story, is that you know that your uncle was a good man. Like he was a good man. He was just caught up in some bad things and and, uh, you know, it's amazing to to hear that story and for you to remember that he was a good man, not that, not that he did bad things, that you know you look at him in a light of you know what he he would have still done anything for our family and, uh, and I think that's important for people to hear because, again, we all have, uh, different issues in our families and and things people do.
Speaker 2:That may be not the right thing to do, but, um, what Ed Milet says a lot in his podcast is a lot of things in life, especially when you're a kid, is caught, not taught. So you see things you know you felt the love from your uncle and um, so it was just when you told me that story. I'm like, okay, we need to. We need to share that with people. Um, you know, to recognize there's good in everybody, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And you know, growing up and the phone ringing and when you answer it says you know you have a phone call from an inmate and it was, like you know, I was excited to talk to him.
Speaker 4:And you know we always talk. He always told me he loved me. You know my family's super close. I mean we all you know aunts, uncles, cousins. I mean we always tell each other that we love each other and do a lot of stuff together. And a lot of families aren't like that, you know, unfortunately. And um, you know we have, we've always done Christmas and things together and but you know, I just I seen so much. I tell my kids about it all the time. It's like, you know, consequences are real.
Speaker 4:And you know, for me to walk into a prison and they pat you down at, you know 12, 13 years old, and you go into a room and there's, uh, bars in front of you and you hear that lock door shut behind you and then the next one, you hear a buzzer go off. That door opens. You go in. You see the razor wires, uh, you see. You go into the lunchroom where other inmates are. There's no glass that you see on TV. You're in there with other people and you know they're sitting in a certain seat so that there's cameras on them all the time and the chairs and tables are just a little bit below your knees so you can't pass stuff underneath the table. But you're in there with other people and you look around and you see people that look very smart and um, probably got in there for fraud. Then you see people in there that look really rough and it's like you look at how people are raised and the choices that you make and I think it goes back to the choices I had to make as an amputee.
Speaker 4:I could have been depressed, quit, didn't want to live. That wasn't my choice. My choice was I want to be able to do the things I wanted to do before. I want to be able to raise my kids the way I had always dreamed of raising my kids. I want to be a great dad. I want to go outside throw balls with my kids, I want to go to their sporting events and I do all that stuff Like I don't miss much. I don't want to miss anything. You know we talked about that one time. Whenever, you know, I got friends that have one kid and they're like I don't know why you let your kids do so many sports. It takes up so much time. I only have a few years of this and that's it. I got plenty of years after that to do what I want to do per se.
Speaker 4:So it's important for me to live a life and show the kids I love them and teach them from right, wrong. Tell them the stories of the things that I've experienced and things I've gone through and hopefully it helps them or somebody like listening today. You know that. Don't be embarrassed to who your family is, I mean you. Just you learn you get caught. Some people have done that kind of stuff and never been caught.
Speaker 2:That's right. You get caught. Some people have done that kind of stuff and never been caught. That's right. Well, and I think that's you know. Going back to any listeners out there, you know if there's someone just having a conversation with someone, you may they may not show any signs of struggle or what they're going through, but just simple conversation. How are you doing today? You know how's, how's your family having those conversations that some people don't even get to have, and so by sharing these stories, who knows who were impacting that could have had been up like you, like your dad or like your uncle, by the choices that they make. So if we can, if we can go out and share these stories and help these people.
Speaker 4:you know to recognize that there are choices in life and there are consequences in life, and you know to try to look at those before you know you make that choice and I think you and I got on that conversation because you know my uncle just passed and you know he was basically asking me, know who was he, what'd he do? And kind of got in the conversation of exactly what he, what he's done. You know, and you know sometimes it's hard to talk about what I experienced with that, because you don't want people thinking that you're a bad person or your family's bad people. They just made a mistake. Mistake, you know, and um, I think that's that's what I get from. It is, whenever I tell the story it's like uh, you know, I don't tell it as a proud moment in my life, you know, it's just something that happened in my life that taught me some lessons.
Speaker 2:So what's next for you? Where, where do you see this going? So what's next for you?
Speaker 4:Where do you see this going, man? I never know. I would have never imagined. I try to break it down from year to year or every three or four years or whatever. And you know, growing up I had goals. We wanted four kids. I wanted to live in the county. I was going to start. You know, I would own my dad's business at some point.
Speaker 4:You know, you just have those things that you want to do and then one day you go through an accident and everything that you thought was going to happen in your life at 29 years old had changed. So now I'm an amputee and it's like, you know, at that first year, first two years maybe, how am I going to live? Like, how am I going to provide for my family? We only have two kids at the time. Is there going to be any more? How would I do the sports? Like, I'm not going to be the dad that I really wanted to be, you know. Not going to be the dad that I really wanted to be, you know.
Speaker 4:And then you think about my wife. Doesn't get very much, um, very much out of people. Don't see what my wife has done, the things that's happened. She's 28 years old. She could have left me, you know. And obviously I probably thought, man, if she rose up and leaves, like, can you blame her? Like, like, this is not the life she wanted either and um, it's just so much of I don't know.
Speaker 4:But I still had the faith. My wife's always had faith, and when we got married, I think we truly were through better for worse, and, um, was it hard? Yes, did we struggle some, you know? Uh, did we fight? Probably? And um, and then things just started happening because we, literally, we laid our lives and and we, we let God before that, we allowed God in our heart and just kinda, and it's hard to say sometimes, but we just walked the path that he laid out. That's what we've always done. So it was one of the things was like, you know what, I don't know how, but I'm still going to walk this path, we'll see what happens. And I just kinda and it's super hard, I mean you, you lay stuff down and you don't really understand. You just start walking and don't look behind you, um, and then doors started opening. Then people started asking me to do public speaking. So I started speaking. I actually failed public speaking in college. It's hard to believe.
Speaker 4:So I was like now this I'm getting asked so many times without advertising I still don't advertise much and I start speaking and I tell my story and people were like, do it again. I'm calling somebody else and it's got busier, busier. Then I started working with the prosthetic company. Um, now I'm there, I'm there, test dummy, you know, and, and I get everything that comes out brand new because they know I'm going to use it. I'm going to try and I'm going to see what happens and I'm going to tell them what it does, what it don't. So I've had this opportunity to see how technology has really grown and there's some big things coming that I'm probably can't even really talk about yet, that I kind of know a little bit about. But man, just what, what's going to happen is going to be unbelievable. Hopefully I see all this stuff.
Speaker 4:Um, the speaking has gotten more. I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I'm really hard on myself. So most of the time I'm like did everybody like it, you know? Cause I don't know, I don't think they did. But then it's like yes, everybody loved it, everybody. And then you get asked to eat again. So I think that, uh, from failing public speaking, so what else is is in it for me. You know, I've done tv stuff, um.
Speaker 4:I wrote my first book, um handed a greater purpose, and then I'm starting to do more speeches. Who knows? I mean, maybe there's a movie out there, maybe there's, I don't know, I really don't know. I just know that I'm going to keep on walking this path that God has laid out for me and I'm going to take the good and the bad. I'm not perfect, I never will be. I'm going to mess up, um, but I'm going to go through a door, every door that's opened up for me. I'm not going to look behind me and and we'll see. I would love one day for everybody in this world to know, not necessarily who Jason Cogre is, but what, what God can do in somebody's life.
Speaker 2:The story yeah, that's amazing man. What do you think? This is first time meeting Jason. You weren't here last time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know how you feel public speaking. That's my first thought. But no, I mean, yeah, your faith, I mean that's what I feel, like that's the biggest testament. Right, it's just your faith. Like you dug hard in your faith with your marriage, Like until you just said that I wasn't even thought how hard it was on your wife, but even the recovery process, all that and how her life changed. But so many times in those situations marriages fail. Right, People take the easy way out. They don't want to fight for it.
Speaker 4:You know, jenny had to feed my 21-month-old, then she had to feed my 3-month-old, then she'd feed me. My food was cold, then she'd feed herself. I know her food was cold. Same thing giving a bath. You know she would give my 21-month-old a bath. She'd give my 3-month-old a bath. She had to give me a bath, then she gave herself a bath. You know what I mean.
Speaker 4:And there was times where she was just I don't even care if I take a shower myself, I just want to go to bed, I'm just tired, I'm, you know. I mean so that first year was man. There was a lot of hard days, man, it was just. But you, every day you woke up it's like something's going to happen today and it's going to be a little bit better and tomorrow's going to be a little bit better. You know, and and I seen that speech from Tim Tebow and he talks about setting goals and and I'll probably talk about this in school today whenever I talk but when you set a goal, I feel like I see a lot of kids like I want to be in the NBA, major leagues, whatever. So they set this goal and it doesn't happen for them. And I think sometimes people look at that and it's like you know, god didn't do what I wanted.
Speaker 4:But Tim Tebow had basically said that in order to reach a goal, you have to be passionate about that goal, and I think it was the 12th century meaning of Latin. Meaning of passionate is to suffer, which is totally different than some of you would think. So he says you have to be passionate enough that, if you fail the bad days, that you keep going and you still try to reach the goal that you want to reach, and if you are willing to fight the bad days, the good days, the hard days, and you continue to try to reach that goal, you're very passionate about it. You're probably going to succeed in it. Where most people just give up, most people that first failure, I'm done and that's why they don't reach that goal because they're not passionate.
Speaker 2:And you've got to learn to keep going. You've got to keep learning to take that step. And you talk about, you know, following God's path, right, and I just you know we had breakfast this morning. You met Maddie and Brian, and Brian and I had a long conversation last week about control. You know, and it's hard for me, you know, you talk about faith and you talk about, um, you know, being prayerful in your life and and and doing good things.
Speaker 2:And I am, I, you know, with with all that I do, with business and sports and family and all those things. I'm I'm not a control freak, but I try to control it, right, because you got to kind of manage all those things. And you know, brian made the comment he's like man, why are you trying to control everything? You know, if you have faith, let let the control go, you know, go with the flow. And so when you talked about following that path, that's what I'm trying to do, you know, is trying to follow that path. I don't know where it's going, right, you don't know where it's going, but I think if we have faith and we follow that path and we're passionate about it and we have those goals out there, whatever they might be. You know that path will take us to where we want to go, but it's a hard thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know the story. We heard about the way, the way they started a construction company. Like you know, zero money.
Speaker 2:He was hungry, that's what it was, and his back was against the wall.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and he was hungry and that's how he started his company and it seems like he's doing very well. And when you're hungry, things happen. Yeah, I was hungry whenever I got hurt. You know I wanted to see things happen. Yeah, um, I was hungry whenever I got hurt. You know, I wanted to see things happen. Uh, I tell my son and I feel like I feel like my son is going to have a little edge on other kids and he does sports. You know, he wants to be in the major leagues. He wants to do all this stuff too. They all do right.
Speaker 4:Every kid does but I feel like he's going to have a little bit of an edge on people because he's going to be hungry. He sees what happens when you're hungry, of what success can look like. And I talk to him about that word passionate. You know, if you're not in it, it ain't going to happen. If you don't do it every day, it's never going to happen. And I try to and it's okay. You know, if it doesn't happen Like if you're not passionate about something and it doesn't work out, you can't blame God for the reason you didn't make it. You know, and I think that's where some people they rely so much on God that it's like, if God has a path for me to be in the major leagues, I'm going to sleep till lunch and when I'm 20 I'm gonna make 100 million dollars you know what I mean?
Speaker 4:yeah, and it still takes. It takes you too. It's not just right, god just do this for me.
Speaker 2:That's right you know, and again you got to be hungry yeah, and even though you do the work, you still may not succeed you're right, right, and that's okay, that's not the path. You know that's not the path you're supposed to be on and you gotta have you gotta have the faith to do it.
Speaker 3:And I mean, you know one of the things that I feel like a lot of people are scared to take that step right, or scared to take the chance that maybe would have opened the door for MLB or you know, whatever dream that you're praying about, and that's that's another big thing. Like you have to have the faith to believe in God, and you know that's one of the things like when you know when you're saved or however your faith is, you know the Holy spirit comes into you. And I, I people always talk about like well, how do you? You know, how do you walk in faith? How do you know what path? And I just always am like, if I feel like God inside of me is telling me like, hey, this is this, is it a God thing or is it something that I want?
Speaker 3:If you're following God's path, like I don't think that we serve a God, that's going to be like you know that's all not the right path. Man, like watch me get you here You're supposed to go. I feel like god's going to put you right on the right path and you know, let's say, your son wants to be in mlb, my son wants to play, you know, nfl, mba or whatever. As fathers like it's also our job to keep that passion going right. Keep the fire. Like so many times, I feel like parents will. Well, are you really going to make it to the nba? You know you're, you're five foot, you're not going to make it to the nba no, like screw that, you know, find a niche, try to get there.
Speaker 3:But what's going to happen is they're going to have the passion they're going to develop the work ethic they're going to, you know, have the tools to succeed. Whatever life goes after that passion falls out or after that dream dies, they're going to have the passion and the work that they had at that that they can move somewhere else. That they'll learn. We learn stuff every single day.
Speaker 4:And we all know that the chances of making NBA, whatever it is, whatever that sport is, is very, very slim. And you're exactly right. I think some parents are like, hey, listen, dude, we're doing this for fun. It's never going to work because one in a million. But I teach my son that he may be that one in a million, right, like I don't want him to give up or not think, or not think that there's even a possibility, because it is a possibility for anybody, right, uh? But I also teach him that if it doesn't work out, it's not that you failed in life, right, it's just not your path. So it's a, it's a fine line, it's super hard, and you know, talking about faith too is um, we are sinners, we all do wrong, um, I told you a story about my uncle and he was on his deathbed when he had a stroke and, um, I don't know if my uncle was ever saved Through all these years.
Speaker 4:I have no clue. But I can tell you, weeks before he died he asked for somebody to come in and pray with him and his last couple weeks. I truly believe that he was saved and I think that I believe that he's in heaven, even though he did wrong, even though things happened. I think that he asked to be saved and he wanted to. You know I'm sorry and understand that God's there. I mean he talked about it a lot the last couple weeks, a few weeks before he passed, so I got to witness that as well. You know what I mean I'm telling you. When I tell stories, I think people look at me and they think, ah, he's kind of full of it. I don't think all this stuff has ever happened.
Speaker 4:I've got to see some really, really amazing things. Just like I said about RoboCop wanting to surround himself with people, I surround myself with People in Owensboro Kentucky. They should be very proud of that, because the people that I've been around my life my mom, my dad, my wife, my cousins, my sister, in-laws, everybody I've been around has formed me to the person I am today. It's not just me and I do get all the credit. I mean people see me and they see that I'm different and that I'm successful. So a lot of times I do get all the credit, but I don't deserve all the credit. I mean, you know, it's literally faith, family, friends. Um, there's been a lot. There's been a lot to form me to who I am today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's what life's all about, right, you know it's about. It's about your family, it's about your faith, it's about you know, persevering through whatever comes your way. You know, just again, just just to keep going. So, jason, as we close this thing out, you got any any final thoughts you want to leave with the listeners?
Speaker 4:You know I do. Um, no matter what happens in your life, if you want something, be hungry, you know, and um, be passionate and uh, live, live the ups, the downs, figure it out. Try to understand that life's not perfect and it's never going to be perfect. And if somebody tells you it's going to be perfect, they're lying to you, because life is hard. Life is definitely hard, and you know, you start looking at man, we could go into politics or anything else, right. And at the end of the day, I tell people our country's so divided and I don't know how we'll ever get out of that division that we have. But it shouldn't matter who we vote for, it doesn't matter the things that we think.
Speaker 4:Once somebody is in a leadership and I don't know why, I'm talking about politics, maybe this is something totally different too but once you're a leader, whether it is politics or anything else, you should support that person. You should. You should want more for us personally, more for our country. We have a politician, we have a president right now that we should all support, whether you voted for him, you didn't vote for him. Same thing with not politics or somebody you look up to. You should always support somebody that's in front of you and you know, you, just, we all need to be one, we all need each other.
Speaker 4:Again, I know I said that earlier and I wouldn't be who I am today, I wouldn't be as successful as I am today if it wasn't for me needing somebody and somebody being there for me. And I think that's why I am there for other people, because it's not that I. You know, it's funny, I had another bilateral arm amputee that is in the TV business and when I got that show on Hawaii five oh, cause I wasn't looking for it he called me and he was like I just want to let you know that I'll never lose another job to you again.
Speaker 4:And I was like okay, and he said I'm going to order me some of them by on a cans and I I just ended the conversation. I was like you know what? You still got to be a good user. Yeah, that's right. And it's people like that that doesn't want to see anybody succeed. I'm totally different than that. If I can get somebody to succeed more than myself, I'm considered the best prosthetic user in the world. If I can make somebody else the best user, hey, that's great. You know what I mean? I'm not. I'm not too good to help somebody be better than me, and I think we all have to have that. I think you get people's like I want to have more money in them, I want to be more successful, I want to have a better business, I want this, I want that, I want it better than everybody else.
Speaker 3:And really man it doesn't matter.
Speaker 4:at the end of the day, we just got to help each other. We got to love on each other, give each other hugs and encourage each other to live a full life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that is so true. I think about again. We've talked about it many times on this podcast about our basketball team that we coach, and there's nothing more fulfilling than to take a kid in any sport or in any walk of life, from from where they're at you know, that first day of practice, like, for instance, in basketball and to go to the last game of the season and to watch that kid's transformation through work, you know, through you know, building those relationships with their team and continually learning and pushing themselves to get better. Man, it is so fulfilling to be able to watch, especially those kids. Watch those kids and watch their minds work, watch them work hard and then to get to the end of the season and watch them have success. Success through failure, right, and um it it is. I think that's a very, very good spot to end.
Speaker 2:This is that we should all want people to be the best that they can be, to be more successful than us, not just our family, right? I like, I want, I want Ben to be successful in what he does. I want his kids to be successful. I want your, I want, I want Ben to be successful in what he does. I want his kids to be successful. I want your kid. If we want that, how much better is this world going to be instead of, you know, being selfish and saying, hey, jason, you got the Hawaii five. Oh job, you ain't getting no more, you know or I'm too busy, or you know.
Speaker 4:And for those kids to grow you had to volunteer. And and that's another big thing that people do not want to volunteer their time. They don't have enough energy, they don't have enough time to do anything. And I hear that because I coached my son from T-ball to 12. I didn't even play baseball, so I did the best that I could. I can't even throw a ball really really good, so I did the best that I could. I can't even throw a ball really really good, so I did the best that I could, and all those kids that was on my team. But then I'll ask somebody that played college ball hey, won't you volunteer to help me? I ain't got time and I'm like, dude, I fly 100,000 air miles a year. I don't have time, but I'm going to make time because all these kids deserve it. And that's another thing. Man, we don't have volunteers like we used to. People's got to do exactly what we're talking and give their time to help somebody be successful.
Speaker 4:And if you don't even know about the sport that you're coaching, teach them about life.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 2:I mean just look at what we're doing today, where we're going to go this afternoon, and you're going to tell your story in front of 400 or 500 kids, right? We're volunteering our time in hopes that, if we can get to one of those kids who are struggling and look at you and hear your story and feel like, okay, I don't have it that bad, you know, I can get through this man. That's, that's what life's all about, you know. It's about giving back and trying to help those in need. So inspire the next generation, right? Exactly what's what we're going to have. That's right. So, jason, where can people find you? Your book, your social media? How can? Can they, how can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 4:yes, so, um, my book is. Uh, actually, if you go to my website, it's jasoncogarcom and I am about to redo my website because it's old. Um, you can order the book through there, which goes to amazon but I'm hoping to change that soon where it literally goes to me, so that I can sign the book and I would mail it straight from my house. So if somebody wants to reach out to me on social media, I would do that. You know, I think it's better that I sign a book, send it in the mail myself and then they get it personalized from me. I'm on Facebook. It's Jason Koger Official. So I have a page, because you're limited to friends on a normal, regular page. I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on everything, everything you can be on.
Speaker 2:So if there's a corporation out there, if there's a chamber of commerce and they're looking for a speaker, they can hit you up.
Speaker 4:Yes, they can definitely hit me up. Or I'm also Marcus Luttrell, which was a lone survivor. So Marcus Luttrell has a company called Team Never Quit, so he has several speakers underneath him and you've got to be handpicked by him. Um, I am one of his speakers, so they can also also find me on team never quit, so I have like an agent, I guess somewhat.
Speaker 4:Now it makes me sound really cool, take that public speaking, yeah, yeah uh, but you know, anybody wants to reach out to me, I'm gonna get back with them. It may take me a couple of days but I'll get back with them. And I love when people walk up to me and even if somebody sees me out, I try to wear shirts that inspires people to talk to me. You know, I got one that says don't shoot, I'm unarmed. I have one that says look, ma no hands. And I have one that I wear to the airport and it says, um, it's not gay if it's TSA.
Speaker 3:Well we wearing that.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good stuff. Well, that caught me off guard. Well, if there's anybody out there looking for a speaker, jason's story is so inspiring and I would encourage you to reach out and hit up his socials and all those good things. So appreciate you making the trek back up this way, the four-hour trek, and it's great to hang out.
Speaker 4:We're going to have a fun day today and and keep this thing rolling it is man and I appreciate you having me again and give me the opportunity to, uh, to speak in front of people. I mean, you know, last night was thursday night. Um, they had the church service for me not on a wednesday, not on a sunday and there was a couple hundred people there, you know, and man, whenever, man, whenever I seen that I was like literally people came just to listen to me. Yeah, sometimes that shocks me, you know what I mean, but I hope I changed people's lives last night and.
Speaker 4:I'm willing to do it anywhere, anytime, any place. Yeah well, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, everybody, be sure to share this episode. Well, everybody be sure to share this episode. Be sure to continue to subscribe and comment and all those good things. We need to help the algorithm so that we can continue to get Jason's story and other stories like that out there.
Speaker 4:So everybody go out and be tempered. He said in his speech that you have to be passionate in what you want to do, the goal that you set. You got to be passionate. You got to be passionate. And he said that the definition of passionate in the 12th century Latin meaning of passionate is called suffering. And he said you have to be willing to go through the highs, the lows, the pain and still try to reach the goal. And if you are willing to go through all that stuff, the pain and all the hard times that's associated with this, goal that you got.
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