Be Different.

Last night was the second annual iHeartRadio awards ceremony and Justin Timberlake won iHeartRadio Innovator award.  He was praised for achievements in entertainment and Tom Ford presented him with the award.  Yes, that Tom Ford.  I’m always reminded at award shows how long Justin’s been in the industry and just how much he’s done to change it and this award was well deserved. He go up on stage and did his standard spiel, thanking everyone he usually thanks, even thanking his guy who actually makes sure his songs are played on the radio.  Then he did something he’s never done before.  He started off by telling a story about his childhood (that’s nothing new), he mentions that he used to get teased for being different growing up.  That he would go home and his mother told him that it was okay to be different, she even encouraged him to do so because people who are different often make a difference.  

 

He then went on to quote Theodore Roosevelt and I paraphrased the quote on the photo above but I’ll paste the entire thing below.

 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

I was moved, y’all, and not just by the words he said.  His delivery was on point too.  I don’t know if he read the acceptance speech off of a monitor or has just has this quote memorized since his teenage years, but I felt that delivery.  After the quote he added a few of his own pieces of wisdom.

Thank you, Justin, and congrats again on your much deserved award.