Empowerment and Unlocking the Human Potential
San Jose State University's SGI campus club "Soka Lions Buddhist for Peace" invited Tommie Smith, 1968 Mexico Olympic Gold Medalist, educator and SJSU Alumni. Dr. Smith is recipient of many awards including the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Peace Award in 2004. The seminar opened up with introduction of the SGI by Mr. Jeff MacDaniel, the Men's division leader of SGI Silicon Valley region. It was followed by book exchange ceremony by Dr. Tommie Smith whose recently published book "Silent Gesture
" was given to SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, and President Ikeda's book was given to Dr. Smith. After the book exchange, Dr. Smith gave a speech, in which he talked about the importance of education in "eradicating the ignorance", and his life long struggle for that endeavor; he talked about his background of growing up in cotton farms in Texas and California, and how he went to pursue higher education and becoming an athlete to win the gold medal in the Olympics. He mentioned the fact that he can really resonate with the SGI's goal of promoting education at the global scale, in its organizational goal of promoting "peace", "culture", and "education". He proceeded to talk about the power of one individual to stand up for justice for what is right. He was misunderstood as someone who made a political agenda at the times of the Olympics, but what his action really stood for was winning the human rights for everyone, not just for extending the cause of one ethnic group. He then received questions from the students, and he encouraged the students to stand up for what is right and continue to pursue education with a sense of purpose. He also mentioned that students must learn how to communicate or have a dialogue. He said, "without communication, there is no options, there's nothing left if we don't learn how to communicate. You are not in college because you cherish pain. Pain is obvious, but it's how you handle pain it is what makes the difference." He encouraged the young people to leave a history of contributing to society that is unique to their own, and in the end to be able to say "I've done it!" Finally, he spoke of the need for this world to "communicate" since the world we live now are still stuck in a constant state of conflict without "communication" and "dialogues".
To learn more about Tommie Smith and his achievements please go to: www.tommiesmith.com/about_tommie/bio.html.
This event was hosted by the Soka Lions Buddhist for Peace Student Club.
