From a house with more than a dozen children, to a schoolhouse with hundreds of students. From sharecropper and stutterer, to serving as superintendent. From abject poverty to accomplished professional, Dr. Hayward Cordy's story will delight you and will inspire you to better your own life and the lives of others. With a heart for the soul of children as his focus, Hayward will lead to you reflect on life's purpose, as well as its promises and dreams.
Dr. Hayward Cordy, executive director of the Oconee Regional Educational Service Agency in Georgia, and former teacher, principal, and superintendent (2:00)
Hayward’s book, Damaged Goods: Lessons Learned in Poverty, Applied to Life. (3:25)
Large family, sharecroppers, living in intense poverty (3:30)
Surrounded by love and support (4:20)
18 people in one three-bedroom home, with no bathroom (4:45)
No bathroom tissue (5:00)
Importance of personal hygiene, a reflection of who you are as a person (6:00)
Bathing in a #3 washtub – using sunshine to heat the water (6:30)
Newspaper vs. Charmin (7:15)
Things don’t make you – our worth comes from giving back (7:50)
Father was a first-grade dropout and wanted all of his children to excel in school and life (9:00)
Education as the equalizer (9:35)
Report card day (9:50)
A black male, growing up in poverty, brought challenges that had to be overcome (10:20)
Rise above mediocre to move beyond one’s current situation (10:40)
Poverty is temporary and changeable (11:20)
Teaching to the souls of children (11:45)
Soul – thoughts, will, emotions – must be in alignment with one’s goals (12:00)
You are capable, you can be successful, you must persist with your desire to succeed (12:30)
“The bottom rail will come to the top one day” (13:15)
Born a chronic stutterer (14:20)
Standing on the sidelines (15:00)
The power of words (16:00)
Struggles taught me persistence (16:40)
We all have shortfalls – we all stammer at times (16:45)
Race? Who owns the problem? (17:00)
Not letting those who have issues with race define you (17:40)
There are good and bad people – choosing to believe that most are good (18:15)
Dented cans, damaged goods (19:00)
I saw everybody else as perfect, and me as imperfect (20:20)
How value is truly determined (20:50)
I held my view of me in my own hands (21:10)
Diddy Waah (21:45)
“High-minded poor boy” or reminder of big dreams, potential and promise? (22:45)
Grandmother Carrie Lily – a special bond with “Boy” Hayward (23:50)
Making me feel special, among fifteen children (24:30)
Working, fighting spirit, a bastion of hope (25:15)
My mother’s persistence and determination (26:00)
Oldest siblings worked the fields two days each week, and attended school the other three days (27:00)
Able to love all fifteen children with a special love (27:30)
Balanced, skills, and being somebody is based upon what’s in your heart (27:40)
Dr. Mays – always have goals, and set them high (28:00)
Dedication (Hayward’s thoughts), foreword (Dr. Allene Magill) – book excerpts (29:35)
Mentoring others, starting in high school (30:30)
Be for others in their life, what I missed in mine (31:00)
“I didn’t choose…where I was born, or my family, but I can choose my destiny” (31:30)
Reaching the hearts of people matters most (32:00)
First grade teacher Ms. Williams looked beyond the stuttering to see a gifted child (32:10)
Troy Taylor, from the alternative school – from suicide attempts to published author and working in the medical field, serving the underserved (32:40)
French fries – a simple act that changed a life (33:30)
“That’s what it’s about. Changing lives. It’s not about me.” (33:50)
Reginald, in the hallway – one of six godsons who call still Hayward “dad” – a question and a word of encouragement (34:30)
Life was changed – now a successful contractor, and visits Hayward in Wrightsville, GA to this day (35:00)
Ms. Nadine Hunt – the El dog and her approach to life, modeling what Diddy Waah dreamed (36:00)
“Life is not perfect, but life is worth living.” (36:55)
“Become hope for those who are hopeless.” (37:25)
“I was born poor, I am still black, and I was born a chronic stutterer, but I chose to make life better for myself. It wasn’t easy, but it is possible…The question has to be, ‘How badly do you want to make life better for yourself and for others? We have a choice.” (37:45)
“I am not a victim. I am a victor, in life.” (38:30)
David Reynolds: What matters most in learning? The challenge? The thrill? The benefits? Interacting with other people? Or something else entirely? What is the connection between leading and learning? Does change drive learning or does learning drive change? What's more important, teaching or learning? Is everyone a leader, a learner, a teacher? Want answers? Listen in as we address these intriguing issues through commentary and with guests who share their thinking and tell us their stories. Lead, learn, change.
Dr. Hayward Cor...: I chose to make life better for myself. It wasn’t easy but it is possible, so even though the poverty level was pretty intense, the truth is in many ways I didn't realize at that time how poor we were. People would think because you don't talk well that you're dumb or you're stupid when you're not, but those struggles taught me persistence. It was hurtful at times but my prior struggles made me say, "That's your problem, not mine, and you can't define me." I didn't choose my location, where I was born or my family, but I can choose my destiny from that point forward. Life is to be lived. We have a choice there. We either strive for the best or just get by, and so that's what it's about, changing lives. It's not about me. It's about us living through others by giving of ourselves.
David Reynolds: Today's guest on Lead. Learn. Change. is Dr. Hayward Cordy. Hayward, thanks for taking your valuable time to speak with me today.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: David, thanks for being here as well. I've been excited about the invitation for some time now and I'm happy to be with you today.
David Reynolds: Well I met Hayward Cordy because of my work with the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, PAGE. Before I met him, however, I heard his name often as he has served on our organization's board of directors and was viewed as someone who had a heart for students and teachers and whose observations, ideas and commentary were grounded in wisdom and integrity. In 2018 to 2019, Hayward filled the role of PAGE president and while fulfilling those responsibilities, he also led the Oconee RESA, the Regional Educational Service Agency, one of 16 such groups in Georgia, where he still works today.
I could read off a list of Hayward's accomplishments, recognitions and official positions he has held during his career, however what matters most is how Hayward has lived his life, the lessons he learned and the example he set for countless others, whether he was serving as a teacher, superintendent or principal. It's Hayward's heart that describes who he is. His story, some of which Hayward will share with us today, has been captured in a book he authored. That book is titled, "Damaged Goods: Lessons Learned in Poverty Applied to Life." So, without further ado, let's jump right in.
Hayward, let's start off by just telling the listeners about your childhood, and that could be your home, a number of siblings, making ends meet. Some of those stories that you share every time you get to speak.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Well I came there from a very, very large family. There were nine boys and five girls in the house with Mama and Daddy, Grandmamma Carrie and Great Aunt Minnie, so from a very, very large household, we were sharecroppers so we worked the fields for a share of the crops during that time period of rural Johnson County, Georgia. We were fairly impoverished but had a house full of love and support, so even though the poverty level was pretty intense. The truth is in many ways I didn't realize at that time how poor we were because we had family support. We had that network there and we valued more than material things and so my childhood was one with a whole basketball team of brothers around and five sisters, very large family.
They had also at the time a house with just three bedrooms and no bathroom until I was about 15 years old, we got our first bathroom, so I was used to going to the outhouse as a bathroom in those things and we couldn't afford tissue. We would use old newspapers as tissue growing up. So it was quite an experience during that time and era growing up there in rural Wrightsville, Georgia.
David Reynolds: I was actually going to move into the newspaper toilet tissue comment because of the current situation we're dealing with where people are bemoaning the fact that they can't find toilet tissue at the store right now, and I was wondering as I reviewed your book this past week, you had these hygiene expectations growing up to stay clean despite the number of people in the house and the absence of a bathroom, so I'm thinking, "Wow, Hayward could teach some people some lessons about not fretting over the fact that you don't have all the toilet tissue you need right now. Talk about that hygiene situation a little bit more because it's really interesting and people can't really connect with that because they haven't experienced it.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: No, and David, for me, with my parents being from minority and poverty, we were taught it was important ... My mother always said, "You can't help but being poor but you can help from being nasty." And so my parents viewed hygiene as an important part of being who you were as a person. And growing up until I was about 14 years old, we didn't have a bathroom, but we bathed in number three, the big washtubs. In the summertime we would put water in the washtub and let it sit outside at an angle and let sunlight heat up the water to bathe in and we'll bathe at night, the whole household, and in the wintertime, David, we would wash off. You get a foot tub of water and you wash off and go to school or whatever else, but hygiene was important in that household because it was an important characteristic of being a person of quality and not one that just didn't care about their appearance to others.
And David, also with that, I mentioned a bathroom. We couldn't afford Charmin tissue to squeeze but old newspapers, we get those and rub those soft and that was our tissue and it's all we had for many, many years and it's all that I knew, David, so I didn't feel like I was in dire straits because we were used to that tissue and it did its job, did its job, and so because growing up in that environment we learned very quickly that things, possessions, what you possess, what you acquire don't make you somebody. That somebody was based upon, number one, us being unique individuals divinely created and that our worth came from us giving back better than ourselves and so that not having a tissue or not having the best clothes didn't even matter in my household.
David Reynolds: Both your parents were onboard with raising all of you to instill some great values in some of the lessons you just shared. You talk a lot about your dad and your mom in your book, but talk about your father for just a second because he has a very interesting background and he had, I think maybe you phrased it, hopes and dreams. But he had some real strong hopes and dreams for you and all of your siblings. I would like the listeners to hear a little bit about the influence of your dad and where he came from and where he wanted you all to go.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: David, there's only one set of Cordys in the Washington Johnson County area and we all are related. My cousins were educators, principal, teachers and they all taught me and my dad happened to come from the poor Cordy side. My dad was a first grade dropout to plow mules for a quarter a day as a first grader and he was raised by his mother. His father died at a very young age and he had two brothers and a sister, and so because of having to plow mules for a quarter a day as a first grader, David, he never learned to read. He's very, very brilliant and he wanted for us better than he had for himself. So for him, then, education was the equalizer that he didn't get, but for us then, he decided that he would push us to excel, not just get by.
David on report card days, my dad weighed about 300 pounds, his voice twice as heavy as mine. You know, it commanded respect. He'd come in on report days and, "Boy, let me see that report card." He'd look at it and said, "What's that B doing there?" My mind is like, "Well man, that's pretty good." I didn't say that because you didn't talk back to your daddy, but the message was, David, if you are an A student, in this household a B is not good enough because he knew that coming up as a Black male in poverty during his era, there were challenges that he would face and I was going to face, and he knew that if I were to rise above my present living environment, then I couldn't excel by being mediocre or just getting by.
I had to go beyond what others were doing to rise out of that current situation. At times, David, it came across as harsh at times but I tell you, those demanding words and those challenges from he and my mother push us all because I wasn't born to the Cordy side that was educated, but he knew what was in us ability-wise and capability-wise he saw living in poverty as changeable, temporary and education was a way out of poverty for us. He had not gotten out but he determined that we would all get out of poverty and surpass what he did in his life.
David Reynolds: It sounds like your parents, your dad especially, really did instill in you the concept that you mention in your book, which is teaching to the souls of children. That's really something that you hold dear and it's about a person's worth and their potential. Talk about teaching to the souls of children for a second.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Well, David, my soul ... I talk about a person's thoughts, their will and their emotions and my belief is that you cannot reach children or others, you can't succeed in life if your soul matters are not in alignment with your goals. From my dad's and mother's standpoint, them being raised and born in the late 20s and having gone through so many things, my thoughts about myself had to be that you're capable, you can be successful. And then the wheel part of it, having a desire to succeed. Once I caught hold of that dream for myself, I had to persist because being educated and living in a situation was not always easy, but my wheel had to come into alignment with my desire to succeed and just to realize the whole thing about you work hard now for success in other things down the road.
And then the key thing, David, was this whole thing about persistence. My grandmother and mother had a saying about railroad tracks. The bottom rail come to the top one day and the meaning was that the oppressed and downtrodden, if they were persistent and kept their faith and trusted God and continued to work hard then, you rise above where you were initially. And the whole thing about it, David, was about the soul domain, that's what drives us because what I've learned is that if you don't convince a person that they are capable and can do ... had your support to do, no matter their ability, no matter their talent, they remained in that position of just being mediocre and just getting by or doing nothing, so the soul matters are the most important, I believe, of lives being changed.
David Reynolds: That concept of persistence, I'm sure, feeds in very strongly to your ability to overcome the chronic stuttering that you talk about in the book and your response to some moments of racism and totally unjustified treatment by other people for the wrong reasons. I'm curious what you would share with listeners about the similarities maybe of overcoming both of those things or dealing with both of those things.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: David, I was born a chronic stutterer and with that I had issues with gross and fine motor skills. In first grade I could not skip. With nine boys in the family, that was a team and so we had goals at the house and so there was a place where everybody came and played sports on the weekends. But I stood, David, most times on the sidelines because I was so uncoordinated, my gross motor skills, until about 10th grade. And so the stuttering made me be a quiet person from the communication standpoint but also from the other standpoint that it put me on the sidelines when everybody else was engaged in the game and for the many years, David, I allowed that to, in my mind, determine my value and my worth.
My parents and family saw me as different. Yes I was in school as well and I internalized that one point in time but here I was, David, a young, black, gifted male and I quickly learned the power of words. I learned to read at an early age and I read many books. I can remember reading a novel about Hank Aaron and many others I began to see myself as I was capable of being, but beyond being quiet, I was shy and reserved, and people would think because you don't talk well that you're dumb or stupid when you're not, but those struggles, David, taught me persistence. I was a former chronic stutterer. We all have shortfalls. We all stammer at times, and I said former stutterer, and so I didn't own the title of stutterer. I don't anymore.
On the issues of race, my philosophy, David, is and was this: Who owns the problem? I don't. The other person does, but because I went through the rejection of being a stutterer and not having no fine or gross motor skills and being called sorry and doofus and those things, I didn't let those that had views about race define me. It was hurtful at times, but my prior struggles made me say, "That's your problem, not mine, and you can't define me," and I believe still that the average person, if you are hardworking and honorable, respect you as you are and I never identified or put anybody in one category.
I believe, David, still believe that you have good and bad people and I chose to believe that most people are good, but those struggles, David, is what framed my approach to my life as a person, as educator, as administrator. That persistence that was necessary to survive coming up, I'd utilize to deal with issues that I face as an adult as well.
David Reynolds Sounds like all of that, Hayward, feeds into the whole damaged goods idea that you coined for your book title.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Right.
David Reynolds: And overcoming that and changing ... at some point there was a pivot point where you shifted pretty drastically, apparently, your perspective on no longer damaged goods and fully realizing that potential that people had been supporting the whole time. So I know where the story came from of why you came up with the title, but it's a great one and it really connects to this notion of viewing yourself and others with the right kind of potential in who owns the problem that you just mentioned. So if you could talk about the damaged goods concept, that would be great.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Right. David, we were a poor family and live in a small town and we go to the town on Saturdays, had a little mom and pop store there in Wrightsville torn down now. It was an outlet grocery store. The owners, he was a butcher as well, and David, he would save for my mother and father the older meats in a box. They would buy those at a discount and they would buy the dented canned goods. Those things, David, gave us assistance and kept us fed, but being in the store there with them those Saturdays, I would look and see other people in the aisles, David. They were buying these perfectly round, shiny cans and damaged goods came out of that image because when I saw that dented can, it reminded me of what I felt about by myself, because I saw everybody else, you included, as being perfect and me imperfect.
But what I learned over time was this, the shiny cans that the other person was buying off the shelf and the dented can that I, my parents, were buying at a discount, they look differently, had a different shape, but inside the can were the same level of quality and the same tastes and the same worth was in the can. It was a matter of how I was valued by the person who held the can and so I realized that I held my view of me in my own hands because I had to decide and realize that, hey, you may be poor, you may be a stutterer, but you are gifted, talented, you are bright and you're not damaged. And David, at that point in time then, that I began to ... my soul bought into that and my life changed because of that.
David Reynolds: Well, instead of calling you Hayward for this next prompt, I'm going to call you Diddy Wah. So, you can sing if you want to but don't ask me to, but I’d like you to tell everybody, because I think this is a perfect time to mention Diddy Wah, where that came from and what's wrapped up in Diddy Wah.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Well David, that was a song and I'll sing a little stanza of it from the '60s. It was (singing) That was a song and so my dad and mother always said that I had the mindset of being a rich boy and not a poor boy. Always desired even though success and nice things that based upon my zip code or where I was raised at, that we really could not afford. So Daddy called me Diddy Wah, short for Dooh Wah, and in some ways, David, it was kind of an affront because it was kind of saying that you're kind of a high minded poor boy, but for me, David, every time that I heard that, it affirmed in me what my dreams were, what life for me could be, what life for me would be.
So that reminded me you dream big, you think big and so David, that's what it came from because of my high ideals about life. That New York City boy and here I am in the country of Johnson County, but I just really ... the best things that life has to offer, you know?
David Reynolds: I had to get that story in there somewhere and you really led into it perfectly. We've talked about your dad a lot and you've mentioned your mom. There's also your grandmother and somebody named Dr. Mays. Spend a little time and talk about those three people and share whatever you want about their influence on you or what they taught you or just the lessons you learned that you were able to pass on to students and colleagues from those three folks.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Right. My grandmother first, Grandmother Carrie and being in a house of 15 children, Mama, Daddy, Grandmamma Carrie and Minnie in a three bedroom house. My grandmother Carrie was like a mother to me as well and with that setup until I was about maybe five years old, I slept with her because we had a small house. But to Grandmamma Carrie, I was Boy. She was kind of a recluse to go somewhere. The question was, "Is Boy going with?" Said no, he not going, mama. "I'm staying home then." You know, so out of 15 children, Grandmamma Carrie made me feel special amongst those 15, so when, with the other ones wouldn't have any issues and I did ... she understood that it kind of lifted me beyond the normal things [inaudible 00:25:04] because of that I was always Boy. I was Boy, which was a term of endearment.
But David, she was raised during the Depression, and so she knew about lack and about her family and she was my mother's supporter. My mother was married twice. My mother's first husband left her with eight children, one six months old, and my grandmother was there for my mother all during that time. Came to live with us until she passed in 1978. So my grandmother, she just epitomized this working and this fighting spirit, and was a bastion of hope. Made me feel special, special amongst the crowd of children there in the household.
My mother now was my heart. She passed in 2016 and we were very close, David, and my mother where I really model the never giving up persistence and knowing what made you, you. Because her being raised and her marrying at an early age and having eight kids at the time, she was frowned upon by other family members and she told a story to me many years ago, and with her having been abandoned by her first husband with eight children, youngest child being six months old. She sought for the first time some assistance and was told by DFACS you got these kids that could work.
My kids are going to school and so Mom made sure that they went to school. The oldest siblings work in the fields twice during the week and go to school the other day during the week and she married my father later on that had three more children, and so Mama's ability to persist and be independent and not begging for help, but to be self-sufficient is what drove me and my work ethics, by just her love. And with her as grandmother, I was always her little boy, little boy.
And so David, my mother and I have very similar personalities. Her persistence and her love to love all 15 kids with a special love is what inspired me in my career, and also to be balanced. You know, out of those nine boys, she made us learn how to wash clothes, how to cook, how to iron and sew and then go outside and work on a car. So, she taught me to be a very, very balanced person but the main thing she taught me was this, that being somebody is not based upon what you have but based upon what's in your heart. And [inaudible 00:28:12] David to me his message was the whole thing about having a dream, having a vision, and so he inspired me as an educator just because he so postulated to others an idea of always having goals and always having a mission, having high goals set.
I would have kids in school and I always told my kids that having a small goal and a little basketball, I would tell the child, "Here, shoot this goal." They shoot and then I turn around. I said, "Shoot." Say, "I can't, I can't." I said, "Why?" They say, "Well, ain't no goal." That's a lie. Without a goal in life being you can't score.
David Reynolds: Your voice trailed away for a second there because you had your back to us, which is what you did with the kid. You would say, "Try to shoot the goal now" and there's no way for them to get to the front side where you had the goal made with your arms. Great analogy there.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: So, my mother taught me those things as a child and Dr. Mays also kind of added to that ideology about goal setting and setting high goals and about never being happy with just existing but always wanting to excel.
David Reynolds: I'm actually going to read something now. These are excerpts taking from the dedication, foreword and back cover of your book. First, your words. "I was thinking of you when I wrote this story of my life, highlighting my many struggles, fears and successes. People have different obstacles to overcome, but we all share one thing. We all struggle with life and need encouragement. This is the story of my life from a child of poverty to becoming a teacher and administrator. I wrote this book not to glorify me but to tell the story of what can be achieved if we have faith, hope for better and do our part to positively impact our life situation."
And then, some words from the late Dr. Allene McGill, who wrote the foreword to your book. She wrote, "Dr. Cordy understands that students must be respected and valued and given the opportunity to learn and be successful. A story of a genuinely outstanding person who came to know his capabilities and didn't let a hurtful words or actions reflected in the insecurities of others define him."
So reflecting on those words, is there any other idea that that generates that you would like to share?
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Well David, I began mentoring others in my teen years, even in high school and during college, and as a teacher and a principal, superintendent, I continued to do that. And David, my goal was to be for others in their lives what I missed in my life coming up. Because I struggled with self esteem, poverty, rejection, then, David, who better to reach those that are like minded than just someone who has been there? It's about changed lives and as an educator, my goal was and continues to be the kids to realize and adults to realize that I didn't choose my location, where I was born or my family, but I can choose my destiny from that point forwards.
And David, I believe with all of my heart that ability, test results, standards, those things don't matter until we reach the hearts of people, because for me to excel, I had to believe that I could. My teacher in first grade, Ms. Evelyn Williams, and David, she looked beyond me being this chronic stutterer to the smart boy who's gifted, and it began with that. And so I've been wanting to give back to others what was given to me. One thing come to mind, I have a former student that I work with in an alternative school setting in the middle '90s, and we lost touch until about 2007.
In fact he wrote a book last year about his life and it was titled, It's How You Win. His name is Troy Taylor. I was his principal in an alternative setting and had it for two years and at the time that I'd had him, David, and it's publicized, he had attempted suicide three times prior to coming to me. In his book he mentioned in conversations about being in my office one day. I had a lunch and I gave him some of my french fries, and that moment showed that he was valued. David, since that time he has now just finished up his last few months in a health clinic in the Atlanta area, but he attributes that time with him to saving his life. He came from abject poverty, from a household where they had a parent that was drug addicted and, David, to him I become Dad and am still Dad.
And so that's what it's about, changing lives. It's not about me, it's about us living through others by giving of ourselves and being transparent as well.
David Reynolds: And sometimes that is just a word that you're not really aware of the potential impact that it might have. I remember a story from your book about a young man in the hall that you passed by. He had been placed outside of the room for one reason or another and you said something to him, and that came back years later, if I'm not mistaken. Share that story with us too.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Right, and in fact, David, that was Reginald. We're close now, he and his brother ... I have six godsons that call me dad and he's one of those. Reginald came from a very impoverished family. He was the middle brother of three brothers and one sister. He was in the hallway and rather than fuss at him, I asked him, "Why are you in the hallway?" He told me and I knew him and I knew about his older brother, little brother, you have a sister, you can't learn anything in the hallway. You need to be in your classroom, but how he could better his family and himself and help his siblings see their role model if he would give his best behavior in academics in the classroom, and I could have fussed at him, but I took that kind approach to try and coach him in that short period of time, David, and that changed his life now. He's a contractor, has his own business and is doing well and we still talk and they still come and see me and in Wrightsville still now.
David Reynolds: You mentioned your first grader teacher, family members, Dr. Mays as an inspiration. Is there another teacher or two that you want to mention and explain why they were so wonderful or so influential?
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Yes sir, there's one, Ms. Nadine Hunt. She taught business ed, the high school there. I took one year, one semester rather, a class in business math and she's still living, and David, she always stood out because she was taught always dress classy, but David, during those days now she always drove what we called an El Dog. That's the Cadillac El Dorado. She parked between the open corridors. We used to park the cars there and Ms. Hunt always kept her a new El Dorado, everybody called it an El Dog, and she was always articulate and she was just about life, about success, and so she modeled what Diddy Wah dreamed.
David Reynolds: Right. This is a great conversation and we could probably talk for hours. Is there anything else you want to share with us?
Dr. Hayward Cordy: David, just to say that life is not perfect, but life is worth living and in these times we're living in right now with all the uncertainty that's surrounding us, we can’t live in fear of being hurt, being let down, stop us from caring about people. And in the end, what matters is being somebody is not based upon the car you drive, what you wear, house you live in. It's based upon others, to become hope for those that are hopeless and to say to everybody that we live in a time now that we can't blame being born poor, being born black, being born handicapped on being a failure because I was born poor, I'm still black and I was born a chronic stutterer.
But I chose to make life better for myself. It wasn't easy but it is possible, and the question has to be, how bad do you want to make life better for yourself and for others? Life is to be lived. We have a choice there. We either strive for the best or just get by. And David, being born poor, a stutterer, but David, I'm not a victim, I'm a victor in life.
David Reynolds Thank you, Hayward, for taking time to share this story, these stories and especially with the emphasis on attitude, the heart of gratitude and the heart of sharing and caring about other people. It's a message for not only all educators but for all people. So I truly appreciate it. Thank you very much and have a great day.
Dr. Hayward Cordy: Thanks David, thank you. I've enjoyed it. Thank you.
David Reynolds: Thanks for listening today. Find the Lead. Learn. Change. podcast on your search engine, iTunes or other listening app. Leave a rating, write a review, subscribe and share with others. In the meantime, go lead, go learn, go make a change. Go.