This King’s Speech – Part 5

I don’t remember the first time someone younger than me inspired me.

When you are a child, everyone who inspires you is older than you. As I got older in life, people who do extraordinary things starting being younger adults. The more I taught, the more inspired I became by my students, and now my children inspire almost every day.

I knew Amanda Gorman was special before the inauguration. I wanted to prepare my students for the musicians and songs that would be included during the inauguration. One name I noticed was the poet Amanda Gorman. I researched her on the internet, and I was blown away. About a week, I witnessed the greatest poetry reading performance I had ever seen in my entire life at the inauguration.

There is so much about this performance that is inspiring. Gorman’s performance and her words were rich with meaning. As the media talked about her and interviewed her, something I didn’t expect came through as part of her story: Gorman had a speech impediment.



I had heard of people talking about overcoming speech issues like stuttering. James Earl Jones and President Biden both talk about how this speech impediment had affected their lives. But I never heard someone talk about the speech impediment I had.

Gorman had a lot of issue with the letter “r” and “r” sounds have always been an issue for me and continue to bring me anxiety.

After hearing Gorman talk about her speech impediment, I thought for the first time in my life about talking openly to people in life. I envisioned myself talking to my students about my struggles, relaying this part of my life when people ask me about my childhood, and talking to my children about what it was like to grow up and struggle to say my name.

Spoiler: I haven’t done any of these things. BUT I have blogged about my speech impediment, and even thinking about having the bravery and sharing the vulnerability that Gorman did in talking about her speech impediment IS progress.

Amanda Gorman did so much when she shared her poetry and herself with America. She is a reminder that the people we can inspire are children and those older than us. And she is also a reminder that the ability to inspire has nothing to do with age. If we listen and look into the eyes of those younger than us, we can see a better vision of ourselves and our future.