As a guest speaker I share my life with people as a way to inspire and encourage others to live life as you were created to do. My belief is this: know that your life has meaning and purpose, and what you give is what you get.
My personal background... I grew up on a farm riding horses and hunting small game with my uncles. My great, great grandfather Pickens F. Mosely was a child slave from North Carolina. He amassed nearly 1000 acres of East Texas farmland in his adult life. With his wife Mary and 14 children, they each had a role in working the farm, as was common during the early 1900's. My family played an integral part in the development of their East Texas, Smith County community. They built churches, schools, and cleared hundreds of acres for farming, even selling land to farmer slaves. My great grandfather, Horace was the twelfth child of Pickens. It was Horanc'e responsibility to assume care of his widowed mother and unmarried aunts after his Picken's neck was broken from the jerk of a mule drawn wagon. It was Horace that would take me by the hand, and lead me on evening walks, stopping to point out the legacy that he would pass on to me and future generations. He called me Who'd thought it, a name that would follow me throughout my life. I was twenty two months when my great grandfather died.
The actor/Life's journey... When I was a kid I really loved going to movies. More importantly I loved the way I felt when I watched movies because I knew that I wanted to be a part of film storytelling. I was completely enamored with anything related to stars in Hollywood. My mother took me to the theater regularly and what I mostly remember is that even when a movie was emotionally charged, and the audience was in tears, I would quietly giggle. I loved the magic, the effect on others.
Drowning/Reaching for the light within... Uh oh, feeling the motion of the waves I began to panic. My plan had gone terribly wrong and before I knew it the enormity of what I had done was overwhelming me. The chlorine smell and rapid waves of the community pool had overtaken my 12 year old body. I felt pushed back. Losing my footing I turned quickly away from the deep signaling to my on-lookers I was in trouble. Deeper and deeper I headed, flailing my arms, kicking my legs, doing anything with one purpose, to stay alive. All this because I said I could swim. I was a drowning boy. I remember my body weakening, I still recall how full my lungs felt, the swelling, but inside my mind, I calmly raged, and I survived.
Addison Witt, ceo of WEM, Inc., is a guest speaker, entertainment strategist, storyteller, and actor.
