Write your story, change history - Brad Meltzer

You know what the greatest secret of history is? It's that history can be changed. And, yeah, yeah, I know, everyone says history can't be changed, but it can. And today we're going to talk about how history isn't just something that goes backwards; history goes forward too. And all those great things that haven't happened yet, that's history that's just waiting to be written.

So how do you change history? I'm going to tell you by sharing with you the three things that I tell my kids every night when I tuck them into bed. It's true. I stole the idea from a friend of mine who told me what his father used to share with him. Every single night, when I tuck my kids into bed, I tell them these three things: dream big, work hard, and stay humble. So let's look at them all.

First, dream big. You know who has the biggest, best dreams of all? You, young people. You know how old Martin Luther King, Jr. was when he became the leader of the most famous bus boycott in history? He was 26. You know how old Amelia Earhart was when she broke her first world record? 25. You know how old Steve Jobs was when he co-founded Apple Computer? 21. And you know how old Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were when they came up with their idea for the greatest superhero of all time, the first one, that they named "Superman"? These guys were 17 years old! Two 17-year-old kids created Superman. They weren't good looking. (Look at the picture, right?) They weren't popular. They had no money, but they were two best friends with one dream. And with just their imaginations, they gave the world Superman.

And I know, creating Superman is a once-in-a-lifetime big dream, so I want to tell you about Alexandra Scott. She goes by Alex. Alex was diagnosed with cancer before she was even a year old, and that was the only life she knew: sickness, chemotherapy, and surgery. When she was four, Alex asked her parents could she put a lemonade stand in the front yard? She didn't want to buy anything for herself; she wanted to use the money to give it to doctors to help other kids with cancer. OK, in a single day, Alex's lemonade stand raised $2,000! But, here's what I love: soon after that, other lemonade stands started popping up, all with Alex's name on it. Eventually, they raised $200,000. And then Alex had a new goal. She said let's raise $1,000,000. On June 12, 2004, hundreds of lemonade stands started opening up in every state in the country. Ordinary people selling water and sugar and lemons to help kids with cancer. Nearly two months later, Alex died while her parents were holding her hands. She was 8 years old. But before she died, Alex said that next year's goal should be $5,000,000. Today, her dream has raised over $45,000,000, and it is still going strong! One idea, one girl, one big dream. And you know what she said? This is a direct quote before she died. She said, "Oh, we can do it! If other people will help me, I think we can do it. I know we can do it!"

You dream big; I don't care how old you are. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise; you will change history. And that leads me to the second thing I tell my kids: work hard. Such a simple one; everyone knows this one. Work hard. I saw this one for my father, and my father died a few months ago. When I was growing up in Brooklyn, OK, my father, he worked hard. He had no money; we had no money growing up. He worked every Saturday, every Sunday. I watched first-hand every weekend what hard work was. And I saw that the hardest work of all is being resilient when you're facing failure.

When I started writing my first book, my first book got me 24 rejection letters. To be clear, there are only 20 publishers; I got 24 rejection letters, OK? That means some people were writing me twice to make sure I got the point. But it wasn't until I was writing my ninth book, a book of heroes for my son, that I found my favorite story of working hard through failure. It was a story that a friend told me about the Wright brothers. That every time the Wright brothers went out to fly their plane, they would bring enough extra materials for multiple crashes. That means for every time they went out, they knew they would fail. And they would crash and rebuild, and crash and rebuild, and that's why they took off. I love that story. I wanted my son to hear that story; I wanted my daughter to hear that story; I wanted everyone to know that if you dream big and you work hard and you fight failure, you will change history and do what no one on this planet has ever done before.

And that leads me to the final thing I tell them: stay humble. Here's the thing: if you invent the world's first airplane, or Superman, or a multi-million dollar lemonade stand, you don't need to be humble. You can get a tattoo on your face that says, "I'm the best!" Right? But pay attention here: no one likes a jerk. In fact, the world needs fewer loudmouths, so stay humble! When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, you know he never took credit for writing it while he was alive? It wasn't until he died and it was in his obituary that the average American found out that he was the author. That's humble.

So there's the big secret: dream big, work hard, stay humble. "Wait," you're saying, "that's it?" "What, you tell me a bunch of stories, and what? How do I change history?" Here's the answer: all history ever is is a bunch of stories, conflicting stories, big stories, little stories, our stories. So how do you change history? All you got to do is write your story. OK? No, I'm serious; this is it. If people think history is a bunch of facts and dates you got to memorize, that's not what history is at all. History is a selection process, and it chooses every single one of us every single day. The only question is, do you hear the call?

And that leads me to the most important thing I'm going to tell you here: you will change history. Some of you will change it in big ways, affecting millions of people. Others of you will do it in more personal ways, helping a family member or someone who needs it. But let me tell you right now, one is not more important than the other. If you help people in mass or one-by-one, that's how history gets changed, when you take action.

But when you start writing your story and you get scared, as we all inevitably do, I want you to know one thing: no one is born a hero. Every single person that we talked about today, whether they were a 26-year-old preacher, or two 17-year-old nerds, or a little girl who had cancer, every single one of them had moments where they doubted themselves, like you, like me. They had moments where they worried about school and friendships and would they be accepted by others, like you, like me. They had moments where they worried about loneliness and failure and would they ever succeed, like you, like me.

But the best part is, you don't have to start a multi-million dollar lemonade stand to change the world. All you got to do is help one person, be kind to one person; that's the answer. It's my core belief; it is in every story I just told you. I believe ordinary people change the world. I don't care how much money you have; I don't care where you go to school; that is all nonsense to me. I believe in regular people and their ability to affect change in this world. I believe in my father, and a 25-year-old daredevil named Amelia, and a little girl who sells lemonade like nobody's business. And it's why I believe in that very first hero we were talking about today, Superman.

To me, the most important part of the story isn't Superman. The most important part of the story is Clark Kent. And you want to know why? Because we're all Clark Kent. We all know what it's like to be boring and ordinary and wish we could do something incredibly beyond ourselves. But here's the real news: we all can do something incredibly beyond ourselves. I got 24 rejection letters on my first book, 24 people who told me to give it up, and I don't look back on the experience and say, "I was right, and they were wrong, and haha on them." What I look back and realize is that every single one of those rejection letters told me to work harder, to dream bigger, and you better believe it, made me more humble; but it also made me want it more than anything.

So whatever it is you dream big about, whatever it is you work hard for, don't let anyone tell you you're too young, and don't let anyone tell you no. Every life makes history. And every life is a story. Thank you.