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Speaker 1: You have one life, and if you don't do the

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Speaker 1: best and all that you can, and there's one life,

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Speaker 1: then you're wasting your life. My life could have gone

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Speaker 1: either way at any moment. The area we lived in

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Speaker 1: was it was unpredictable and uncertain. You could easily walk

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Speaker 1: out your door and catch a bullet. I did not

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Speaker 1: want to be another statistic. I've seen the gutter what

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Speaker 1: it looks like, and I've seen what uber wealth looks like.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, we are the masters

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Speaker 1: of our faith and the captain of our soul.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the sees the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy

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Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what

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Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but

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Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than

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Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and

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Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives. They adore

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Speaker 2: the good, bad and ugly, the best and worst. Day

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Speaker 2: will bear all the facets of seizing your yay. I'm

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Speaker 2: Sarah Davidson or a spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned

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Speaker 2: entrepreneurs's the Suits and Heels to co found matcha Maiden

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Speaker 2: and matcha Milk bar CZA is a series of conversations

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Speaker 2: on finding a life you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge,

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Speaker 2: joy and fulfillment along the way. Welcome back, Lovely yighborhood.

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Speaker 2: It is so nice to be back in your ears

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Speaker 2: after a bit of an extended break. I ended up

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Speaker 2: taking a few more weeks off than originally planned because

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Speaker 2: my brain just didn't feel quite ready to bring its

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Speaker 2: YA game again. And I'm so glad that I did,

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Speaker 2: because I don't think you really do your best work,

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Speaker 2: or I certainly don't when I push through that feeling,

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Speaker 2: and so often you also realize the deadlines you're trying

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Speaker 2: to meet are artificial or you made them up yourself.

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Speaker 2: So thank you so much for your patients as I

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Speaker 2: kept pushing it back, and this episode is absolutely worth

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Speaker 2: the wait. While there's so much to talk about between

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Speaker 2: the end of last year and the start of this year,

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Speaker 2: I won't talk too much now as we have the

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Speaker 2: first of a new more conversational segment coming soon when

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Speaker 2: I'll have many more words for you. So for now,

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Speaker 2: allow me to introduce our first guest for the year,

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Speaker 2: Donald Betts, who is also our first guest ever with

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Speaker 2: a political background, as well as the first who moved

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Speaker 2: into Lord sees his yea rather than away from it.

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Speaker 2: We recorded this just before the break last year, and

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Speaker 2: again I'm so glad that I waited to edit and

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Speaker 2: release this one now because I too needed to hear

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Speaker 2: this with fresh ears at the start of this year

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Speaker 2: to get my motivation back. And I can't wait for

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Speaker 2: you guys too, as well as you have undoubtedly figured

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Speaker 2: out about me. I am inspired by every single one

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Speaker 2: of our guests in all different ways, but occasionally I

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Speaker 2: get truly bold over and there are so many reasons

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Speaker 2: why I think Don will do the same for you.

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Speaker 2: From his resolve to escape the life of gun violence

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Speaker 2: and gang wars that he grew up in which very

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Speaker 2: few of us can relate to or comprehend, to becoming

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Speaker 2: the youngest ever senator to serve in the history of

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Speaker 2: the state of Kansas in the United States, and then

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Speaker 2: from leaving politics to find his ya in law, to

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Speaker 2: the ridiculously romantic way he speaks about meeting his wife. Oh,

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Speaker 2: there is just so so much that blows me away

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Speaker 2: about Don, but he tells it so beautifully himself, with

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Speaker 2: remarkable humilities, self awareness, and the manners of an absolute gentleman.

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Speaker 2: So I will stop myself there and let you listen

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Speaker 2: for yourself. Donald Betts, Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Sarah.

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Speaker 2: I'm so so excited to have you on the show.

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Speaker 2: First of all, how are you going.

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Speaker 1: I'm well, you know, just finished up law school and

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Speaker 1: admitted it to practice and I'm just elated, but I'm

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Speaker 1: exhausted and I'm relieved that it's over, but I'm looking

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Speaker 1: forward to the journey ahead.

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Speaker 2: Congratulations, this is so exciting. You are the first person

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Speaker 2: we've had on the show. Obviously I mentioned before. I

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Speaker 2: think you already know. I've transitioned out of law which

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Speaker 2: led to this whole seizing the YA idea. And you're

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Speaker 2: the first person who's transitioned into law after your first career.

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Speaker 1: Yes, definitely, and it's a great experience, especially you know,

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Speaker 1: coming from the United States, it's in study in Australia law.

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Speaker 1: It's been a remarkable journey and I just look forward

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Speaker 1: to it, you know, to see what happens. And the

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Speaker 1: benefit about being a lawyer is that you have the access.

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Speaker 1: You know so much access and you know how to

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Speaker 1: do the research and you know the law and you

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Speaker 1: know the importance of it. So even in your with

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Speaker 1: what you're doing it, I'm sure you know you utilize

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Speaker 1: some of the skills you picked up in law school.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think it is one of those platforms that

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Speaker 2: can launch you into anything, because I don't think lawyers

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Speaker 2: know anything. We just know how to find the answer

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Speaker 2: to anything that's right. Well, congratulations where you admitted. Could

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Speaker 2: you do your ceremony during COVID?

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Speaker 1: Oh no, so we were. I signed the role in

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Speaker 1: the papers electronically. No, you know, pomp and circumstance. No

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Speaker 1: photos with the family. You know, we're going to have

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Speaker 1: to play Hollywood and get out there and try to

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Speaker 1: figure it out how to get the photos. But more

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Speaker 1: than anything, it's over. I've completed my goal, one of

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Speaker 1: my goals, and I didn't really miss anything. I think

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Speaker 1: it was an honor to complete this degree in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty because it just sets us apart from anyone else.

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Speaker 1: You know, you were admitted in twenty twenty, which means

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Speaker 1: you didn't get what every lawyer in Australia received, and

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Speaker 1: that was you know, actually attending the Supreme Court and

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Speaker 1: having the Chief Justice read you in. And we won't

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Speaker 1: get that I did receive a video from her today.

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Speaker 1: I haven't had a chance to work.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. We might have to make an appeal

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Speaker 2: for special circumstances to get you back in with like

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Speaker 2: the full get someone to get in the gown for you,

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Speaker 2: just so you can have the photo.

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Speaker 1: I love that. I think my partner he's flirted with

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Speaker 1: the idea about doing that. So we'll see it at

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Speaker 1: the Christmas party on Friday. Of that really comes fast.

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Speaker 2: Well before we kick off. I start every episode with

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Speaker 2: a little icebreaker, which is just to ask what the

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Speaker 2: most down to earth thing is about you? And it's

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Speaker 2: always a bit more of a challenge for people who

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Speaker 2: have a Wikipedia page. Firstly, you're very famous, have a

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Speaker 2: lot of firsts to your name as well, the youngest

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Speaker 2: Kansas senator ever, you know, lots of other incredible achievements.

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Speaker 2: I think you were the first African American to complete

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Speaker 2: the JD in Australia, so I mean already on a

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Speaker 2: pedestal right up there. And you've been an amazing voice

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Speaker 2: through the American election in our news. So again, I'm

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Speaker 2: very very lucky to have you here today. What's something

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Speaker 2: really normal about you?

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Speaker 1: I'm just a down the earth type of guy. I

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Speaker 1: just you know, I prefer to take off all of

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Speaker 1: this these accolades and just relax with everyday folks. You know,

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Speaker 1: most of my friends are either senior citizens or are

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Speaker 1: folks so far away from the legal profession that it

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Speaker 1: just keeps me balanced. I spend a lot of good

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Speaker 1: time with my kids and my wife, and my mother's

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Speaker 1: visiting here, so I just time at home. If I'm

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Speaker 1: not working normally, I'm working. You know, even when I'm

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Speaker 1: not working, I'm working. But I just I just like

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Speaker 1: to relax and chill out, you know, go to basketball

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Speaker 1: games and and and play a little chess with my

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Speaker 1: daughter and just you know, just chill out.

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Speaker 2: Play chess.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to play chess in this game. You

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Speaker 1: know the politics and the law. You know, you need

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Speaker 1: to know how to protect the king.

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Speaker 2: See, this is what I love so much about these conversations,

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Speaker 2: is you know, when you're on the news or when

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Speaker 2: you get interviewed in much shorter for media, no one

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Speaker 2: gets to find out. They only hear the glossy title

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Speaker 2: version of who you are, and they don't find out

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Speaker 2: that you love chess with your daughter and that you're

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Speaker 2: normal and love to chill out.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was. I'm glad, you know, because I

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Speaker 1: am a normal guy, you know, I just I have

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Speaker 1: this philosophy that you have one life, and if you

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Speaker 1: don't do the best and all that you can in

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Speaker 1: this one life, then you're wasting your life. So make

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Speaker 1: a four life out of it. No complaints, no excuses,

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Speaker 1: just get it done, make it happen.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Well we can hang up right now

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Speaker 2: because that was absolutely already incredibly moving. Another thing that

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Speaker 2: I think really humanized as people is to go through

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Speaker 2: the whole story of how they ended up where they are,

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Speaker 2: and when we do meet you now, we walk into

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Speaker 2: your life with a lot of purpose and direction and

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Speaker 2: gratitude and grounding. You know it. At this stage of

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Speaker 2: your life, it's easy to look back with hindsighted all

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Speaker 2: the decisions you made and all the crossroads you were at.

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Speaker 2: But I love to remind people that no one wakes

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Speaker 2: up knowing what they want to do. No one wakes

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Speaker 2: up at the end of the story. Everything is a

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Speaker 2: stepping stone, and there are so many chapters along the

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Speaker 2: way that don't get as much airtime. So for people

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Speaker 2: who are feeling a bit lost, or not sure what

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Speaker 2: their place is in the world. It's always reassuring to

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Speaker 2: hear that most of us have been through that before

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Speaker 2: we got to where we are now exact. So the

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Speaker 2: first section is called your Way to Ya, where we

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Speaker 2: trace back from the very beginning how you got I

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Speaker 2: call it your path yay, how you got to where

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Speaker 2: you are now, seizing your ya. So take it all

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Speaker 2: the way back to you know, Wichita and your first

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Speaker 2: career and how who what you were like at school,

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Speaker 2: what you thought you wanted to be, and how you

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Speaker 2: started your first career which isn't obviously the one that

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Speaker 2: you're in now.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, thank you for that question. I guess you

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Speaker 1: never know what, Like you said, you never know what

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Speaker 1: path life is going to take you on. My mother

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Speaker 1: often tells me I was often a very caring little boy,

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Speaker 1: always helping out, helping her with my brother and anyone

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Speaker 1: that needed help. Very caring and loving. But I was

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Speaker 1: also very protective of my family members and my friends

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Speaker 1: and my cousins and those that are around were around me.

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Speaker 1: The first time I got involved in some type of

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Speaker 1: elected office was the second grade at Height Elementary School.

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Speaker 2: I read that.

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Speaker 1: And my my first teacher. Favorite teacher was Charlotte Balden.

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Speaker 1: Right now she's very old and she's in a nursing home,

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Speaker 1: and keep in contact with her son and let him

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Speaker 1: know how much, how much of a role she played

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Speaker 1: in my life, even at that tender age. So I

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Speaker 1: became a state i say, a class representative in my school,

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Speaker 1: and that was the first launch of political the taste

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Speaker 1: of politics, you know, actually running a small campaign, making

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Speaker 1: signs and pacing them all over the lockers, in the

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Speaker 1: walls in the school building. So that was the first

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Speaker 1: test of my ability to lead, and then along the way.

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Speaker 1: When you jump into that type of leadership at such

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Speaker 1: a young age, it becomes part of what you want

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Speaker 1: to do moving on. So every grade after that, I

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Speaker 1: sought to get involved in our student council, student government,

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Speaker 1: human relations, the law club. All throughout my elementary school,

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Speaker 1: in junior high and high school years, I aimed to

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Speaker 1: get involved in that student government life. I was in

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Speaker 1: the orchestra and anything that kept me out of trouble. See,

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Speaker 1: I grew up in a very violent community in Las

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Speaker 1: Vegas after moving from Kansas to Wichita. The area we

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Speaker 1: lived in, it was unpredictable and uncertain. You could easily

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Speaker 1: walk out your door and catch a bullet. It's just

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Speaker 1: as easy as that. I can remember the first week

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Speaker 1: that we lived there, my mother was on top of us,

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Speaker 1: my brother and I as gunshots rang outside of our window.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't remember. Within the first month or two, I

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Speaker 1: got jumped by a gang because I was wearing a

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Speaker 1: red sweater. So my life could have gone either way

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Speaker 1: at any moment. But there were neighbors around me, fifty

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Speaker 1: sixty seventy year old neighbors that I found refuge, and

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Speaker 1: I would take out their trash and rub their feet,

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Speaker 1: or try to breathe their hair, comb their hair wash,

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Speaker 1: the dishes, keep company. And I learned so much wisdom

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Speaker 1: from those elders, and I utilized a lot of what

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Speaker 1: they said, and I can repeat it and hear it

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Speaker 1: in my mind when I come into a circumstance. I

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Speaker 1: can remember Miss Perkins, or Miss Charlie May or Miss Luanne,

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Speaker 1: or mister Johnny speaking into my ears. My grandfather, a

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Speaker 1: reverend at the church. I can remember a lot of

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Speaker 1: these these tips that they may have thought it was

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Speaker 1: just going in and out, but it stayed within. And

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Speaker 1: I carried those messages with me throughout my life and

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Speaker 1: after graduating from high school and another first, I was

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Speaker 1: the first in my class to graduate from high school

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Speaker 1: in that neighborhood. In that area, everyone in it either

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Speaker 1: dropped out, teen pregnancies, or were murdered if not incarcerated.

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Speaker 1: So I made it out and I think that was

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Speaker 1: the biggest challenge for me. And then that's when I

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Speaker 1: moved back to Wichita, Kansas to start school at Friends Universe,

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Speaker 1: where I eventually became the first African American student body

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Speaker 1: president in one hundred year history, the first mister Falcon.

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Speaker 1: I served on the football team, the jazz band, the

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Speaker 1: chamber orchestra. So that youth of staying out of trouble

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Speaker 1: by being involved, you know. And in high school, I

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Speaker 1: worked at the casinos. Anything I had to do to

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Speaker 1: stay out of that toxic, violent, gang ridden environment. I

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Speaker 1: did anything to stay on the positive and veer away

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Speaker 1: from the negative. I got involved in and that has

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Speaker 1: been a trend for me even in my adult life today.

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Speaker 1: And then that's why I was able to grasp and

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Speaker 1: get involved because I was trained by a village to

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Speaker 1: become a man of courage, and I guess compassion for others.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I have absolute goosebumps. That is just

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Speaker 2: so incredible, and I think it's very difficult. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know, now in Australia as a father, it's a

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Speaker 2: very different landscape and there are of course risks and

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Speaker 2: dangers on the street for young children, but the gang

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Speaker 2: culture is not nearly as pervasive here, you know, And

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Speaker 2: it's hard for us to comprehend just how difficult it

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Speaker 2: was for you to get through childhood, let alone. You know,

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Speaker 2: children anyway face so much, you know, crisis of identity

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Speaker 2: and who am I and what do I want to do?

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Speaker 2: But on top of that, facing gun violence and constant,

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Speaker 2: you know, a constant environment of violence. To come through

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Speaker 2: that is I can only imagine requires an extraordinary resilience

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Speaker 2: in a young child.

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Speaker 1: Well, you often hear I don't know if you've heard

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Speaker 1: about the Divine Nine and Kamala Harris being a member

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Speaker 1: of the Divine Nine. So she's a member of Alpha

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Speaker 1: Kalpa Alpha. I'm a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha PSI.

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Speaker 1: But Kappa Alpha PSI, when I was in high school

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Speaker 1: had a program called the Kappa Leadership League. And the

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Speaker 1: Kappa Leadership League was designed to encourage academic achievement and

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Speaker 1: community service. And part of those men of Kappa Alpha

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Speaker 1: PSI that mentored me. There was a gentleman he's a

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Speaker 1: commissioner in Las Vegas right now. His name is Lawrence Weekly,

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Speaker 1: and he was a great mentor and my taekwondo teacher,

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Speaker 1: a Kappa.

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Speaker 2: He did taekwondo.

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Speaker 1: Taekwondo and it was free, so of course I signed up.

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Speaker 2: What did you not do as a child? Anything?

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Speaker 1: A lot of the things that I wanted to do,

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Speaker 1: like play basketball or high school sports, I could not afford.

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Speaker 1: So I worked. You know, I would work. When I

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Speaker 1: started at the Advanced Technologies Academy, I worked from five

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Speaker 1: to one am, maybe four days a week, and I

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Speaker 1: called the city bus home and I got up in

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Speaker 1: the morning, I made it home maybe at two. I

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Speaker 1: studied on the bus and I got up every morning.

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Speaker 1: I was a little late for school, but I was

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Speaker 1: at school every day and that was my routine. And

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Speaker 1: on top of being in my school activities, my grades

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Speaker 1: suffered a little bit. But I had to help look

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Speaker 1: after my family. I had to help my mother because

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Speaker 1: she was a single parent. So I felt since my

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Speaker 1: dad wasn't in the picture. I was the eldest sign,

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Speaker 1: so I needed to step up to the plate and

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Speaker 1: do what I needed to do, and I did.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, if anyone is listening and not feeling

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Speaker 2: incredibly determined and inspired and motivated, then there's something wrong

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Speaker 2: with them, because that's absolutely amazing and a wonderful reminder.

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Speaker 2: I think of two things. Firstly, I just finished writing

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Speaker 2: The Easy, a book, and one of the chapters in

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Speaker 2: it is the idea. It's an African proverb that it

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Speaker 2: takes a village to raise a child, but to do

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Speaker 2: anything really to live a fulfilling life. It's not just

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Speaker 2: your immediate family, but the people you choose as your family,

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Speaker 2: and the mentors who you look back at and remember

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Speaker 2: the direct impact they had on your pathway. But the

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Speaker 2: other thing is also that you are not necessarily the

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Speaker 2: product of your environment. And you can be surrounded by

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Speaker 2: violence and you know, gang wars wearing red and blue

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Speaker 2: is an actual, like life threat that we cannot comprehend

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Speaker 2: in Australia.

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Speaker 1: It exists.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you can throw yourself into other things and

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Speaker 2: not be swayed by that being in your face all

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Speaker 2: the time. You're just such a wonderful example of the

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Speaker 2: fact that you can defy what is presented to you

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Speaker 2: as maybe the only pathway that other people would take

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Speaker 2: and go on and become a senator. I mean, oh

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Speaker 2: my gosh.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. My best friend's mother was my mother, my guy.

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Speaker 1: And who we've you know, I proclaimed is my godmother

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Speaker 1: and her parents is my godparents. I have an Indian

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Speaker 1: mother from Bombay, India. I have uncles and you know,

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Speaker 1: dads who stepped up to the plate and showed me

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Speaker 1: how to lead and how to be a man. You know,

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Speaker 1: when you don't have a man in the house, it's

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Speaker 1: quite difficult to learn how to be a man if

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Speaker 1: you don't see what a man is to do other

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Speaker 1: than walking around. And you see these guys with the

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Speaker 1: pants hanging on the butts and they're not they're not

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Speaker 1: doing anything you know, significant in life, but you know,

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Speaker 1: drinking and smoking and gang banging. And that wasn't what

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Speaker 1: I wanted. I did not want to be another statistic.

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Speaker 1: So I had to find avenues of folks who could

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Speaker 1: guide me and lead me and show me the way.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I'm a great man of faith, So

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Speaker 1: my dad was not there. So I always considered God

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Speaker 1: my dad when I walked through that desert, not knowing

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Speaker 1: if I was going to catch a bullet or get jumped.

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Speaker 1: I just talked to my dad in the sky, and

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Speaker 1: he was the one that protected me. And it was serious.

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Speaker 1: It was serious as a heart attack. You know. My brother,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately we weren't so far in age, we were close

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Speaker 1: in age, so he was influenced by the negative and

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Speaker 1: that's why his life is no longer with us. But

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Speaker 1: I could not take that round. I could not see

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Speaker 1: myself doing that. I needed to. I needed to be

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Speaker 1: greater and better and an example for others, and that

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Speaker 1: was that was my aim in life. You know, again,

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Speaker 1: you get one, so you have to make the best of.

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Speaker 2: It, and you absolutely have. And it's just so I

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Speaker 2: read that you actually tried it out for law school

363
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Speaker 2: when you graduated, rather than going straight into a political career,

364
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Speaker 2: but didn't get in, and that that rejection was actually

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Speaker 2: a redirection that obviously you've ended up taking a legal

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Speaker 2: pathway many years later. But I think that sometimes things

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Speaker 2: work out not the way we planned, but often better.

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Speaker 2: And if you can take that view to any kind

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Speaker 2: of setback or failure, then you can see it, you know,

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Speaker 2: rejection as redirection rather than as a total. You know,

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Speaker 2: it's not a no forever, It's just a no, not

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Speaker 2: right now. So talk us through that decision and that

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Speaker 2: time of your life when you know you held these

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Speaker 2: hope for a legal career, couldn't necessarily take that pathway,

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Speaker 2: but then got elected as a politician.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, right after I graduated from university, I

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Speaker 1: applied to law school. I sat for the ELSAT and

378
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Speaker 1: I was rejected. I did that twice, and I knew

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Speaker 1: then that my dream was not going to come true.

380
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Speaker 1: I thought it's over, but it never left my heart.

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Speaker 1: So I had to disconnect to reconnect. So I disconnected,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to give back. You know, I was

383
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Speaker 1: blessed enough to survive carry arms apartments in Las Vegas,

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Speaker 1: the West Las Vegas Project, and God still gave me life.

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Speaker 1: So I wanted to repay that. So I worked with

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Speaker 1: my fraternity and we created a program, a Capo League

387
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Speaker 1: program in which ital Kansas that I came through in Vegas,

388
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Speaker 1: and I wanted this program to be one of the greatest.

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Speaker 1: So I developed the program, worked with a few of

390
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Speaker 1: my brothers, and I did it. Cadd my life to

391
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Speaker 1: to creating new leaders through through the cap out through

392
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Speaker 1: Kapa Alpha PSI UH a Capo League program in Wichita, Kansas.

393
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Speaker 1: I also worked at a level six treatment facility UH

394
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Speaker 1: for young people who were abused sexually abused, mentally abused,

395
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Speaker 1: and physically abused and UH and and encouraged young people

396
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Speaker 1: that way, both boys and girls. And then I decided,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to take this political science

398
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: history degree and make it work. So I walked into

399
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Speaker 1: Democratic headquarters, just rocked up the director there. His name

400
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,239
Speaker 1: is Jason Dilts He Uh. He said, hey, how can

401
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:43,600
Speaker 1: I help you? I said, well, I want to run

402
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Speaker 1: for office. And he said, so, which office do you

403
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:52,840
Speaker 1: want to run for? I said whatever is open and

404
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,719
Speaker 1: he said, oh, he was so excited to see a

405
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Speaker 1: young man walked in there. And UH. And I was serious, right,

406
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Speaker 1: I say, serious as a heart attack, you know, but

407
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 1: I was so serious. And he said, okay, let's set

408
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Speaker 1: up a meeting with the chairman of the party. And

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Speaker 1: he has since passed. His name is Lee Kinch and

410
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,919
Speaker 1: he's We set up and we had lunch. And it

411
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,880
Speaker 1: was that day that Jonathan Wells, who was also passed,

412
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Speaker 1: he retired by facts and I just so happened to

413
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Speaker 1: be living in that district. He was a state representative,

414
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 1: so that left an open seat, so I jumped right

415
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Speaker 1: on it. I didn't have much money after being a

416
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Speaker 1: college graduate. You know, you're pretty broke. You know you're

417
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,120
Speaker 1: working for yourself. You're trying to still eat and pay

418
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Speaker 1: your bills. I started knocking on doors. I got to

419
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Speaker 1: you know, I got the constituents to sign a petition.

420
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Speaker 1: So you need about fifteen hundred signatures in order to

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Speaker 1: run without having to pay the filing fee. Some days,

422
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Speaker 1: I selected rainy days and I just went out there

423
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,840
Speaker 1: in the rain and knocked on doors and people were like,

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00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 1: whoa this cat is. He's very serious, and they said,

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00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna sign this and I'm gonna put

426
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Speaker 1: you put it. Come bring a yard time. When you

427
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 1: raise money, put a yard time. And in fact, here

428
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 1: here's a check. So right then the community started supporting me.

429
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Speaker 1: And uh my uncle was a criminal lawyer and Topeka,

430
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,879
Speaker 1: so the BET's name in Kansas carried a little bit

431
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Speaker 1: of weight. I was living with my grandmother at the time,

432
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Speaker 1: and we just she was helping me with phone calls

433
00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: and stuff envelopes and we were running an in house

434
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: campaign and just knocking out, you know, knockings on many

435
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,199
Speaker 1: doors as I possibly could, registering people to vote, and

436
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,439
Speaker 1: before you know it, the checks start coming in, the

437
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,879
Speaker 1: contribution started coming in. I started putting signs out and

438
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: I was running against two ladies who were pretty well known.

439
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 1: Tracy Rutlerch's husband was a state representative, and Oliita faus

440
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,919
Speaker 1: Gudou's mother was a community activist, very well known. And

441
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,919
Speaker 1: I captured forty seven percent of the vote in a

442
00:23:55,960 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 1: three way primary. I became a state representative. After being elected,

443
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 1: I jumped on the governor's campaign started working to get

444
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,119
Speaker 1: the governor elected. So we got the governor elected, and

445
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:12,119
Speaker 1: then the day came where you're sworn in in January.

446
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,199
Speaker 1: Everyone comes back to the state capitol. After all the

447
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,159
Speaker 1: pomping circumstance. Everyone is, you know, congratulating you. You have

448
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,360
Speaker 1: family there, you know, taking photos, and then when everyone leaves,

449
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 1: you go to your new office and you sit down.

450
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 1: So one day I walked next door to another state representative.

451
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: Now he was the youngest state representative, Joshua Swatie, who

452
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 1: eventually became the Secretary of Agriculture. I walked next door

453
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: to his office. I sat down at his desk and

454
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: I looked at him. He looked at me, and I said.

455
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 2: What do we do now?

456
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 1: So we did all the work to get there. But

457
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 1: it just goes to show how experience in politics is

458
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 1: very important. You don't know anything until you get your

459
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: hands dirty. You know, a lot of outsiders may say,

460
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 1: why don't you do this, Why didn't you vote this way?

461
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: Why don't you You don't know until you at a

462
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: young age, I found out quickly that politics is not

463
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 1: what the general public thinks it is. It's hard work,

464
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: it's sacrifice, it's dedication.

465
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and especially at such a young age, and especially

466
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 2: I think something we all do and in this goalkicking culture,

467
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,679
Speaker 2: which is wonderful. It's so exciting to be in a

468
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 2: time where people are celebrated for, you know, working really hard.

469
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 2: But I think it's also we get really caught up

470
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 2: in the chase, like to get the position, and you

471
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 2: focus so hard on like getting there, that once you

472
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 2: get there. Sometimes that happens with any goal in life,

473
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,959
Speaker 2: where you work so hard to achieve it and then

474
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,160
Speaker 2: you achieve it and you're like, oh, I didn't plan

475
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:44,439
Speaker 2: for this scenario, Like now what do I do so

476
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,120
Speaker 2: quickly before we move on to moving from the House

477
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 2: of Reps to the Senate and the many many things

478
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,440
Speaker 2: you were able to achieve in office for the uninitiated,

479
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,919
Speaker 2: because I found it quite confusing and interesting how I

480
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 2: think we share a common language, so we assume Australia

481
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 2: and the US are aligned much more closely than politically

482
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 2: and culturally we turn out to be. And I actually, randomly,

483
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 2: in my own journey of seizing the A and doing

484
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 2: all the different things, I ended up working on Obama's

485
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,679
Speaker 2: reelection campaign. We flew to New York and door knocked

486
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 2: in Philly like literally to get out of the vote,

487
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 2: because of course it's not compulsory to vote, which is

488
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 2: one of the major differences in the political system. Can

489
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,520
Speaker 2: you give us a quick rundown of how the structure

490
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 2: in the US works for people who I think the

491
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 2: whole country followed the US election recently, most of us

492
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,439
Speaker 2: without understanding what the primaries are, what actually happens. So

493
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:42,520
Speaker 2: can you point out just the main differences so we

494
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 2: understand the rest of the conversation.

495
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 1: Okay, so the primary, there's a general and primary the

496
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: primary election, and I'll go and it applies from local

497
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,120
Speaker 1: all the way to federal office. The primaries are when

498
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: the parties fight within themselves in order to pick a

499
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: candidate who's going to run in that seat. So in

500
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: my primary, I had a two opponents, there were three Democrats.

501
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 1: I captured forty seven percent of the vote in the

502
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 1: three way primary, which means I became the victor of

503
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party for the eighty fourth district of state representatives.

504
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,639
Speaker 1: I did not have a general election. A general is

505
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: then when you face off with the opposite party, and

506
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: whoever wins out of the Democrat or the Republican or

507
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 1: the Democrat and the independent will then go on to serve.

508
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 1: So you have your primary election where you fight, you know,

509
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,119
Speaker 1: within the family, and then the general is when you

510
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,239
Speaker 1: fight your neighbors, right, and whoever wins in that in

511
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: that scenario becomes the president, the senator of the governor,

512
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,000
Speaker 1: the state representative, the city council, whoever.

513
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 2: And how long are your terms in state versus the

514
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:54,679
Speaker 2: federal election.

515
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: So a state representative and US congressman never stops running

516
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,160
Speaker 1: because you every two years, yes exactly, so you run

517
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: every two years. You never stop campaigning. And that's the

518
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: problem in my assessment because if you're always campaigning, you

519
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: really have You're never off, you're always on, and you

520
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: have to really work really hard to get to get

521
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 1: through it. A state senator is four years, a US

522
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: senator six years. So the different dynamics is a governor's

523
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 1: four years a governor. Most governors only get two terms

524
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 1: a state representative, a US senator, a state senator. There

525
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: are no term limits. Okay, so only in the executive

526
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: offices are their term limits. The governor, which is the

527
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: executive of the state, and the US federal offices of

528
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 1: the president.

529
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 2: I can imagine that increased certainty allows you to actually

530
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 2: do some of the work instead of worrying about just

531
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 2: keeping your position. Because campaigning every like every two years,

532
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 2: you'd just be campaigning the whole time, like when you

533
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 2: have time to do anything else.

534
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: You're always raising money, You're always on the phone. You

535
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,479
Speaker 1: can't have a family as a state representative, certainly you cannot.

536
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: You cannot have a family. And some people they do

537
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,400
Speaker 1: just fine with it. But I think after my first

538
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,560
Speaker 1: two years. No, I served one year in the House

539
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: and I call my campaign manager and I said, man,

540
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: I'm done with this. I can't do it any more.

541
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: I'm done. He said, no, bets you will, And my

542
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 1: team really pushed me to continue on because although I

543
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,880
Speaker 1: like to serve, the games in the political arena are

544
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: so intense that it just drains the life out of you.

545
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: It's not an easy game. You know. It looks luxury,

546
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: you know, the movies and all of these these shows

547
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 1: and stuff. They paint a pretty picture, but it is

548
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 1: not pretty. It's really messy.

549
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 2: Yeah. I often think that you're just juggling so many balls.

550
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 2: You know, most careers are focused on like this is

551
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 2: your skill, and you do your skill that you guys

552
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 2: are doing your skill in amongst just relationship management and fundraising,

553
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 2: and there's just so much. You just have so many

554
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 2: tabs open all the time, and I honestly don't know

555
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 2: how any of you you manage it. So it's amazing

556
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 2: that you managed to actually, you know, create change at

557
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 2: the same time.

558
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 1: You know, as a young politician, all politicians know how

559
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: to throw traps. They know how to trap you, and

560
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: committee they know how to get you caught up where

561
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: you make a mistake. And so you have to have

562
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: mentors within that body the leadership to say no, don't

563
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 1: do that there was a senator of Senator Haley. When

564
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: we get to the Senate. He said one thing that

565
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: resonated with me, and he said, divide and conquer. Do

566
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: not let them divide us, otherwise they will conquer the agenda.

567
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: And I took that to heart and I still live

568
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: with that today.

569
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow. So looking back at that time, you spent

570
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 2: two years in the Reps. Then in two thousand and

571
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 2: four became the younger senator in the history of Kansas,

572
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 2: and then that took you through four years to two

573
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,560
Speaker 2: thousand and eight, the year after which you moved to Australia.

574
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 2: What was that period of time like and what led

575
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,080
Speaker 2: to I always wonder when people decide to make a

576
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 2: big quantum shift from one industry to the other, how

577
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 2: do you look back at that time now? And to

578
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 2: any young aspiring politicians and any young aspiring lawyers, talk

579
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,880
Speaker 2: us through your thinking in those in that chapter.

580
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I served one year in the House of Representatives,

581
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: and then I was nominated with the American Council of

582
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:44,160
Speaker 1: Young Political Leaders acypl by Gym, a fellow colleague, Representative

583
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,960
Speaker 1: Rocky Nichols, who nominated me to come study the Federal

584
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,240
Speaker 1: on state Parliment system here in Australia, and while I

585
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: was here, I was out, you know. We traveled to Brisbane, Canberras, Sydney,

586
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 1: Townsville and then my favorite place in the world is Melbourne.

587
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: I mean I fell in love with Melbourne. The day

588
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: that I that we were able to get free and

589
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 1: go out. I think Senator Michael Danby was the Senator

590
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 1: for Saint Kilda and he recommended that we get out

591
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 1: and just go look around Saint Kilda. And the Republicans

592
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,480
Speaker 1: they they wanted to choose where we we went out

593
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: this night, so they chose the place with the elephant

594
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: on the building, which is the elephant and the wielbarrow. Yes,

595
00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,520
Speaker 1: they've just they've just closed down, you know, a couple

596
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: of years ago. But my now wife just so happened

597
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: to be in there with her friend. They were celebrating

598
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 1: the birthday and I there's a Republican assemblyman named Stephen Labriola,

599
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: and he throws this in my face to this day.

600
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: But I went over and I said, Steve, I think

601
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 1: I see my wife man, and he said, hold on,

602
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,520
Speaker 1: big boy, hold on, big boy. And I said, well,

603
00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:57,959
Speaker 1: you go over and ask her if I can come

604
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 1: over and talk to her, and he went he said, okay,

605
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: I'll go over. He went over and she said maybe later.

606
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,040
Speaker 1: So I waited and she left off and went to

607
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:09,959
Speaker 1: the restroom and came back. I was looking for her

608
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: and couldn't find her. And then I had made up

609
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: my mind that I would go over there myself and

610
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: then I would leave. So I went over and I said, Hi,

611
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: my name is Don. Just wanted to introduce myself to

612
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: you and to you know, just call me or email

613
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,560
Speaker 1: me and maybe we can chat. And then I handed

614
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: her in my card. She would not take it, and

615
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 1: her friend took it, and I think it gives it's

616
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: a lot of credit to her. I knew I could

617
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: not approach her at first because she just I knew

618
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: she was a lady. I knew she did not belong there.

619
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 1: She was just there for some other reason for her friends.

620
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,880
Speaker 1: And her friend said, who, we're still good friends now.

621
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: She said, she'll call you, She'll she'll she'll reach out

622
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: to you. And it was nine months later when she

623
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 1: reached out to me. And by that time I had

624
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: become a senator. So the Senate race, I left. I

625
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,680
Speaker 1: left Australia get back home to my fraternity brothers and

626
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 1: I said, hey man, my roommate, one of my line brothers.

627
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,160
Speaker 1: I said, hey man, I met, I think I met

628
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 1: my wife. He said whatever, Bets, I said, I think

629
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: I did. He said, what's her name? I said, I

630
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,439
Speaker 1: don't know. He said what carr telephone or I said

631
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,759
Speaker 1: I don't know. He said whatever. So that ended that,

632
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,720
Speaker 1: and you know, I just always thought about this woman.

633
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,399
Speaker 1: She just gorgeous, and her disposition and her the way

634
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: she carried herself was just everything for me. It was

635
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: it was everything I needed and I couldn't have it

636
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 1: right then. It was like wow, you know, I just

637
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 1: it was just like love at first sight. It was

638
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,799
Speaker 1: most definitely love at first sight. And so I came

639
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,319
Speaker 1: back home and I jumped right back into, you know,

640
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,880
Speaker 1: my life as a politician. The oldest senator at eighty

641
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,360
Speaker 1: decided to resign, so that left his seat open for

642
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 1: the Democrats. He left one year unexpired. So I ran

643
00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,600
Speaker 1: against a city councilman, a very popular city councilman, and

644
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,560
Speaker 1: the president committee captains have to decide who will replace

645
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,960
Speaker 1: a city senator. It's a special election, and I captured

646
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: the vote by one vote. So every vote counts. Yeah,

647
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,560
Speaker 1: and I became the youngest senator in the history of Kansas.

648
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,720
Speaker 1: And that's when I just started on my senate career.

649
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: And my goal was to run and win the seat

650
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,759
Speaker 1: again so that I kept four years so that I

651
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: could then apply to law school again. And it so

652
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 1: I served my first term and then I get a

653
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,319
Speaker 1: call on April first to the US. It had been

654
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 1: April second in Australia. And my secretary patched called me

655
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,839
Speaker 1: in and she said, Senator, there's a call from Australia.

656
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,440
Speaker 1: Can I patch it through? And I said sure, so

657
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: she passed it through and the lady on the other

658
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,720
Speaker 1: end said, Hi, I may I please speak to Donald

659
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 1: Betts Junior. No one calls me Donald Betts Junior. They

660
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: either call me call me Senator Betts or Donald or

661
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,720
Speaker 1: don you know. So I'm thinking, maybe is it student

662
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 1: loans calling to ask me if you know if I

663
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,040
Speaker 1: said my payment through or you know. And I said, ma'am,

664
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,359
Speaker 1: may I ask her speaking? And she said you don't

665
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 1: remember my accident. I said, no, ma'am, I'm going to

666
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 1: have to disconnect this call if you don't tell me

667
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,520
Speaker 1: who's speaking. She said, this is tan yet from Australia,

668
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,399
Speaker 1: and I didn't know her name, but I knew it

669
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:12,799
Speaker 1: was her. Something in me told me it was her.

670
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: We started talking and I was really excited. I was

671
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 1: on my way driving back to Whatchital from Topeekup. It

672
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,800
Speaker 1: was a weekend. And then I started my political brain,

673
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: my paranoidal brain, started thinking, is this a setup with

674
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: Australian government. I mean, it was just on just on

675
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: a political mission. It's just a set up. So we

676
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,439
Speaker 1: talked for about an hour or two, uh, And then

677
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 1: I hung up and I didn't call her back. I

678
00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 1: took her details. I didn't call her back for a week,

679
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: and then she called me back again on that Friday.

680
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 1: And then that's when I was getting ready to fly

681
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: out somewhere and I had some layover time and we

682
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:50,040
Speaker 1: were just talking and talking, and I found out she

683
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 1: was from Sri Lanka, and I didn't even know where

684
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 1: Sri Lanka was at the time. Really, you know. She

685
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 1: told me about her culture and then we had the

686
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 1: same beliefs and we just really started putting the dots together.

687
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 1: And in that conversation, because legislative session is usually over

688
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:10,360
Speaker 1: by April May, that conversation lasted all the way into August,

689
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: when I thought I would fly in, but then the

690
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: governor asked me to stay on the work on her campaign.

691
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,400
Speaker 1: I'd finished. I won. My election was around the corner November.

692
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:20,839
Speaker 1: I captured seventy one percent of the vote. I was good.

693
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: I was solid that November election. I flew to Australia

694
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,040
Speaker 1: and then that's when, Yeah, and that's when we established

695
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 1: a relationship. And we were back and forth for five years.

696
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 1: And I flew to Sri Lanka asked her father for

697
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 1: hiding marriage, and it was the whole big deal. She

698
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 1: was coming to the US, met my family. I was

699
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: flying to Sri Lanka and a struggle to meet her family.

700
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,239
Speaker 1: And now we have two kids and a mortgage and

701
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 1: stuff that comes from marriage.

702
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,360
Speaker 2: I know, I'm supposed to be more impressed by the

703
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:54,760
Speaker 2: overcoming gang culture becoming the first senator, but I actually

704
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 2: the love stories making me so like emotional. This is amazing.

705
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, we we had a good time. We got married

706
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: in the US. All of her friends flew in from

707
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:05,920
Speaker 1: all over the world, and then we took all of

708
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: our guests to Disneyland. We rented three bands and went

709
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 1: to Disneyland in Vegas and you know all you hit

710
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,719
Speaker 1: the spots on the West coast shut. Yeah, I mean

711
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 1: we really wanted to bless them as well because they

712
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,040
Speaker 1: had come so far to bless us, so we wanted

713
00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:25,239
Speaker 1: to give them, you know, share with them our love

714
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 1: for them as well.

715
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 2: Oh my god, how's your mates That were like, oh,

716
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,640
Speaker 2: you haven't met your wife? And then you told you

717
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 2: nine months later, but.

718
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,359
Speaker 1: Still they were really I mean they talked to her

719
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 1: on the phone all the time and they were really supportive.

720
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:39,799
Speaker 1: And when she come to visit, the wives and my

721
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 1: friends will take her out, and you know, it was

722
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 1: it was. It was nice. It was really nice. It

723
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 1: was good experience.

724
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:46,719
Speaker 2: Oh I'm so happy for you.

725
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,320
Speaker 1: And the reason I ended up in Australia is I

726
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,880
Speaker 1: I decided after it was my four years was up.

727
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,920
Speaker 1: So I did five years as a senator and I thought, okay,

728
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: I can run for reelection to the Senate and then

729
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,920
Speaker 1: resign with the you know, one year or whatever, or

730
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: I can run for US Congress. So I said, okay

731
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: to my wife, I said, hey, I'll make a promise

732
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 1: to you that I'll run for US Congress. If I win,

733
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,520
Speaker 1: then we'll move you to Washington, d C. With me.

734
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: If I lose, I'll pack up, I'll give up everything,

735
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 1: all that I have built for myself. I'll give everything up,

736
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 1: and I'll move to Australia start all over again.

737
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 2: That is Roman.

738
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:27,880
Speaker 1: And then the governor reached out to me and she said,

739
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 1: Donald is an application you can come work with the

740
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: Obama administration. Because I ran on that ticket. And I

741
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: showed my wife and she said, but honey, you promised,

742
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,000
Speaker 1: and I said, I did promise. So we packed. I

743
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 1: packed up, sold everything and moved to Australia.

744
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:48,800
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's the fist story. Ever, I can't

745
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,799
Speaker 2: actually believe that that is interesting that you met at

746
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,439
Speaker 2: the freaking elephant in Wheelborrow, Like, yeah.

747
00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:00,239
Speaker 1: She was not interested, she had no interest in meeting anyone.

748
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. And now you've done the full circle

749
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,399
Speaker 2: and done your JD at Monash. I'm a Mornash girl.

750
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,880
Speaker 2: So I'm so unbelievably proud that we now have Senator

751
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 2: Donald Betts as one of our alums.

752
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: I love. They gave me the opportunity. You know, when

753
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 1: I was in the Senator, I applied for law school

754
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,280
Speaker 1: again at Washburn because my uncle was a graduate of Washburn,

755
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 1: and I had the Supreme Court Justice of Kansas, the

756
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: governor write me recommendation letters and they still refuse admission.

757
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,319
Speaker 1: I shall have those letters, you know. And it just

758
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: broke me because I was willing to give up the

759
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:36,319
Speaker 1: Senate to study law. But life takes us through a

760
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 1: path that will help us along the way, and the

761
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: fact that I'm a former senator has opened a lot

762
00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 1: of doors for me, even here in Australia. So we

763
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 1: don't know which way life is going to take us.

764
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 1: We just have to walk in it. We have to

765
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 1: walk in that dominion.

766
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:54,359
Speaker 2: Absolutely. That is everything this show is about, is understanding

767
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,239
Speaker 2: the twist and turns life is meant to take. If

768
00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 2: we all got smoothly to the place we thought we

769
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 2: would like, the richness of your experience is stripped away.

770
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 2: So I love I love that message and reminder that

771
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 2: you were meant to go through all the hurdles and

772
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 2: obstacles and diversions away from law to get to the

773
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:15,280
Speaker 2: career that you have now. Yes, So, how has your

774
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:21,080
Speaker 2: relationship to success changed through those chapters and those careers

775
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 2: and the rejections and redirections now that you have ultimately

776
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 2: lived the dream and are living the dream you've had

777
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:32,280
Speaker 2: since childhood? Really, what does that feel like? And how

778
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:34,279
Speaker 2: does that? You know? Sometimes I do think we get

779
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 2: to the destination and it's a bit overwhelming because you

780
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 2: don't you never planned for what happens after that. How

781
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 2: do you now measure your success? Or is success even

782
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 2: a metric that you use?

783
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:48,920
Speaker 1: Well? I often go back to what my grandparents told me.

784
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:50,839
Speaker 1: My grandfather said get all you can and can all

785
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: you get. And I took that as get all your can,

786
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,440
Speaker 1: your knowledge, your finances, your network, put them in a can.

787
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 1: One day you made need to go into that can

788
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 1: and pull out your resource or some finance or your

789
00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:04,280
Speaker 1: savings or whatever. And my grandmother told me two things.

790
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: She said, boy, if you ever get high on that horse,

791
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 1: I'm going to get a ladder climb up there and

792
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:14,919
Speaker 1: knock you off right. And my fraternity brother once asked

793
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:17,440
Speaker 1: my grandmother, are you proud of Don that he's graduated

794
00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:20,040
Speaker 1: and he was president and all of this stuff. She said,

795
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 1: I'm proud of him at all, But that's what he's

796
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 1: supposed to do, right. So I look at success as

797
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,880
Speaker 1: just you know, achievement, and it's something that I'm supposed

798
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 1: to do. It's something that we're all supposed to do.

799
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,040
Speaker 1: And I keep it humble that way so that I

800
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:39,200
Speaker 1: could relate to those that and be able to encourage

801
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 1: those that, having graduated from high school, helped to build

802
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 1: the smallest of us so that we can all grow together.

803
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 1: I've seen the gutter, but it looks like and I've

804
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:51,040
Speaker 1: seen what uber wealth looks like. I've been in those

805
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 1: rooms and at those boardroom tables. At the end of

806
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,880
Speaker 1: the day, we're all people. We all have that one life,

807
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: and those of us that make the best of it,

808
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 1: we achieve more. Those of us that choose not to

809
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 1: make the best of that one life, they have to

810
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: answer that for themselves. At the end of the day,

811
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,840
Speaker 1: we are the masters of our faith and the captain

812
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,120
Speaker 1: of our soul. We can steer the journey. We just

813
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:14,880
Speaker 1: need to walk one foot after the other, and so

814
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:19,760
Speaker 1: as it relates to success. I'm grateful and I'm immensely blessed.

815
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,319
Speaker 1: But I think I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do.

816
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just, you know, like all of

817
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:28,960
Speaker 1: these things, Senator this and that, you know, I'm happy,

818
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: I'm proud, but it was a lot of work.

819
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 2: I think something that also really stands out about you

820
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:38,719
Speaker 2: is the ability to acknowledge the really hard work and

821
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,000
Speaker 2: the hard times and the obstacles you've had to face

822
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 2: without taking away from the fact that it has been

823
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,320
Speaker 2: really hard, but without sort of lamenting them and wallowing

824
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,400
Speaker 2: in that and just pushing through and being like, I

825
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:49,439
Speaker 2: still ended up where I am.

826
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:52,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think I'm in my right place.

827
00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,520
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't give myself enough credit. I'm

828
00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,359
Speaker 1: harder on myself than anyone could ever be, so no

829
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:02,320
Speaker 1: one could say anything to that my spirits, because there's

830
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,239
Speaker 1: a critic in me that is more that criticizes me

831
00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: than anyone else. And you talk about mental health and

832
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 1: all of that. Sometime we're our biggest oppressor. We don't

833
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:14,520
Speaker 1: give ourselves enough credit for the effort that we put forth.

834
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 1: And I drive myself to the end, to the point

835
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,880
Speaker 1: of when I hit the bed at night, I instantly

836
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:23,759
Speaker 1: knock out, and those that love me say, you need

837
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: to slow down, you need to relax, you need to

838
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:28,400
Speaker 1: I was just only going to take a small amount

839
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 1: of time off for the break, and I have all

840
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 1: of this leave accumulated, and I'm a new lawyer. So

841
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 1: he Peter Cash awesome, amazing lawyer, litigator, and Norton Rose.

842
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:43,560
Speaker 1: I give it up to him. He's fantastic. Bevin Melman

843
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:46,880
Speaker 1: and jeremy legal brothers. You know, they've really kind of

844
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 1: pushed me and supported me. But Peter says, no, you're

845
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,000
Speaker 1: going to take a month off, you know, because he

846
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,520
Speaker 1: knows in five years I haven't had a break, you know,

847
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 1: so he selected the time I would take off. And

848
00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: I'm immensely grateful for you know, my son and daughter

849
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 1: are like, Daddy, you're going to have some time for us,

850
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:03,879
Speaker 1: and now it's their time.

851
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,400
Speaker 2: Well that's what that whole middle section then ata. We've

852
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,520
Speaker 2: kind of covered most of it in the chat itself,

853
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,919
Speaker 2: but the big question that I had, and I'm sure

854
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 2: most other people listening, were like, how do you fit

855
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 2: it all in without burning out? And I see it

856
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:20,560
Speaker 2: takes other people to impose rest breaks on you.

857
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,040
Speaker 1: And it's just just that indominable spirit of purpose. Because

858
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,400
Speaker 1: I lost my brother at thirty three, I lost my

859
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,719
Speaker 1: big cousin who's been a brother to me at forty nine,

860
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:33,320
Speaker 1: and my father passed away. I know how short life

861
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 1: can be, and there's so much to be done, and

862
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,120
Speaker 1: so I try not to allow too much time to

863
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 1: slip away. You know, there's so much to do in

864
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,160
Speaker 1: the time that we have on earth, so I try

865
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 1: to fill that in with something significant. If I'm going

866
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,400
Speaker 1: to do something with my children, I want it memorable.

867
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 1: I want them to have a good time. I want

868
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,239
Speaker 1: them to cherish the moment. And that's how I live.

869
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 2: That's the perfect segue to the last section, which is

870
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:01,040
Speaker 2: your playta and how you make the most of the

871
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,600
Speaker 2: hours that you don't spend working and that you do

872
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:07,600
Speaker 2: spend Separating your identity from productive don who's achieving and

873
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,959
Speaker 2: being a senator and being a lawyer. I mean, nothing

874
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 2: you've done has been not high achieving. Like every single

875
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:15,240
Speaker 2: thing you do, you throw yourself one thousand million percent

876
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 2: at it. And I think it's hard for driven people

877
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 2: to make time for the person they are when they're

878
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,200
Speaker 2: not that achieving person. But if you work to sleep

879
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:25,920
Speaker 2: and sleep to work and then you work and die, like,

880
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 2: that's just not what this life is about. So what

881
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:32,160
Speaker 2: do you do that's separate to your working identity? How

882
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 2: do you play? And just I kind of think it's

883
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:36,640
Speaker 2: the activities that make you forget what time it is,

884
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 2: which is so rare in this day and age. But

885
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:39,760
Speaker 2: what do you do for fun?

886
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,800
Speaker 1: Well, I go bike riding with my son, I play,

887
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:47,200
Speaker 1: I do crafts with my daughter. We draw, we write,

888
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 1: we do whatever, you know those things. We go swimming,

889
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 1: you know, with the kids. Just the other day, my

890
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 1: wife and I got all dressed up, you know, I

891
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,399
Speaker 1: put a tux on. She wore sorry. We went out,

892
00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:00,400
Speaker 1: We went to a wedding and we just made the

893
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:02,400
Speaker 1: best of it. We had a blast. We had a

894
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:04,880
Speaker 1: good time, and we hadn't done that in years. Because

895
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 1: both of us are the type that are giving to others.

896
00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:10,480
Speaker 1: We give more to others and family members than we

897
00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,319
Speaker 1: give to each other. And we needed to pour that

898
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:18,000
Speaker 1: into our marriage because sometime you forget about the person

899
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,520
Speaker 1: you want to spend the rest of your life with

900
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:22,319
Speaker 1: and you assume that they will always be there. But

901
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:27,160
Speaker 1: it takes a nurturing in order to build that relationship

902
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 1: and keep it strong. We've learned that. So we've gone

903
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 1: through some challenges together, both of us. But as a individual,

904
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:37,560
Speaker 1: I like, you know, back home, I would have got

905
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:40,400
Speaker 1: with my boys, my fraternity brothers. They you know, they

906
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:42,879
Speaker 1: say bets put it down now get in the car.

907
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:44,640
Speaker 1: Get in the car, we go. Move you in the car.

908
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:48,080
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, let's go, and then they will go

909
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:51,560
Speaker 1: have a good time. But I liked I would love

910
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:55,480
Speaker 1: to just My ultimate goal one day is to buy

911
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 1: a beach house, a beach house that is overlooking the ocean,

912
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,440
Speaker 1: and I can wake up and sit in peace and

913
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,759
Speaker 1: serenity and just watch the ould shit and read a

914
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:10,800
Speaker 1: good book and just relax peacefully, quietly, you know, allow

915
00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: my thoughts to fall on paper. Yeah, for me, that

916
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,359
Speaker 1: will be the ultimate holiday. And I'll get there one

917
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,040
Speaker 1: day and just have to keep working hard.

918
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 2: I trust that you will. I trust that anything you

919
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:25,399
Speaker 2: say you do you'll do, you absolutely will do at

920
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:30,200
Speaker 2: some point. So I'm conscious of time. I could talk

921
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:32,600
Speaker 2: to you forever, but I will wrap up with a

922
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 2: couple of last questions. But one that just came to

923
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,680
Speaker 2: mind is the fact that a lot of conversations this

924
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 2: year have been very swept away in podcast land. You

925
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 2: have your own podcast, which I haven't even had a

926
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:46,279
Speaker 2: chance to ask you about, but I mean, you know,

927
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:49,640
Speaker 2: just from being around and being a political commentator in

928
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:51,920
Speaker 2: a lot of cases, how much politics has dominated the

929
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 2: conversation this year and how much race and ethnicity and

930
00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:01,200
Speaker 2: discrimination and equality have become also very big topics this year.

931
00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:02,759
Speaker 2: And I actually love that we got to the end

932
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 2: of this conversation without mentioning any of those things. And

933
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 2: I think that that's almost the message I have wanted

934
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 2: to push more this year, that not everything has to

935
00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:15,280
Speaker 2: be about your position as an African American in society,

936
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 2: and let's get your commentary on the George Floyd protests

937
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:21,280
Speaker 2: and the US election, like that's of course what everyone

938
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 2: wants to ask you about. But I actually loved finding

939
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:24,759
Speaker 2: out all the other things about you, because there are

940
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:26,840
Speaker 2: other places we can go and hear your opinion on

941
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:29,280
Speaker 2: those things. But one thing I did want to ask

942
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:35,399
Speaker 2: is have you found it jarring or in any way

943
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 2: is there anything notable about the experience of moving from

944
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 2: America to Australia, Because last week's episode was an Australian

945
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:44,400
Speaker 2: woman and model who moved to New York, so the

946
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,839
Speaker 2: opposite direction to you, because she found her mixed race

947
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 2: and darker skin made the opportunities more abundant in the

948
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:54,239
Speaker 2: States than the reverse. Her father is from the French

949
00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:56,719
Speaker 2: island of Reunion, so she's mixed race she has quite

950
00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 2: dark skin, and she just found that. Yeah, the opportunities

951
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:02,919
Speaker 2: were more abundant in the other directions. So coming this way,

952
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:05,839
Speaker 2: have you found you know, what is your experience being

953
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:06,799
Speaker 2: in that area? Oh?

954
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:11,560
Speaker 1: No, And I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't

955
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 1: allow those things to hinder me. If I come to

956
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:16,480
Speaker 1: a brick wall. As you can see, I mean it

957
00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 1: was I was rejected from law school multiple times. I was.

958
00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 1: And I could have said it's because I'm black. I

959
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,239
Speaker 1: could have said the reason why this is happening is

960
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:29,759
Speaker 1: because I'm black. There may be some credit to that,

961
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,799
Speaker 1: But I don't allow that to stop me. Uh. And

962
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:38,319
Speaker 1: I think, Uh, at the end of the day, we

963
00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: have to I have the philosophy when you come to

964
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:45,560
Speaker 1: a brick wall, and you know you have you have

965
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 1: the wolves at your heels, and there may be a

966
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:50,879
Speaker 1: mile or two away, maybe an hour away from you,

967
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,040
Speaker 1: and they're coming to they're coming for blood, and you

968
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:57,040
Speaker 1: got a brickwall. What do you do? Do you turn

969
00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:00,839
Speaker 1: around and face them and just take your fate and die,

970
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 1: or do you figure out how to get on the

971
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:05,480
Speaker 1: other side of that wall? Do you dig under it?

972
00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:07,600
Speaker 1: Do you try to crawl over it. Do you try

973
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,080
Speaker 1: to go around it or do you break right through it.

974
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:14,640
Speaker 1: If I can't get around it, over it or under it,

975
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:17,799
Speaker 1: I will break through it. I will find a way

976
00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:21,240
Speaker 1: to get to the other side. And that is life.

977
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:24,400
Speaker 1: You know. If we constantly, you know, bring up the

978
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,440
Speaker 1: excuses and the reasons for our failures, we will have

979
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 1: no reason to succeed. So my goal is to succeed

980
00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:35,920
Speaker 1: and achieve at whatever cost, you know, until your last breadth.

981
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 1: Try to survive, try to get on the other side.

982
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 1: And a lot of people don't see opportunities. They only

983
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:48,880
Speaker 1: see barriers and walls. I see opportunities where there are walls.

984
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:51,480
Speaker 1: You know, maybe I can find and gather some folks

985
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:55,120
Speaker 1: that are experiencing the same problem and we can pull

986
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:57,879
Speaker 1: each other over, We can lift each other up. There's

987
00:51:57,920 --> 00:51:59,719
Speaker 1: a way to get to the other side. There's a

988
00:51:59,719 --> 00:52:02,799
Speaker 1: way to get the ear of those decision makers, and

989
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,279
Speaker 1: you just have to be willing to put in the

990
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:07,640
Speaker 1: work and get it done. We give up too easy.

991
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:10,560
Speaker 1: In this society. There is no excuse. I mean you

992
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:13,879
Speaker 1: know what, there is no excuse. There will always be race,

993
00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 1: there will always be racism and prejudice. But if we

994
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:19,600
Speaker 1: allow those things to get in our way, will never

995
00:52:19,920 --> 00:52:22,880
Speaker 1: ever achieve anything. I mean, I could have said that

996
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 1: I was one of two African Americans in the Kansas City.

997
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 1: I was the only African American in the as at

998
00:52:30,200 --> 00:52:34,319
Speaker 1: my university to become Student Body President Australia. I was

999
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:38,000
Speaker 1: the first African American to achieve the JD. If I allow,

1000
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:42,279
Speaker 1: you know, those little sly remarks and you know, individuals

1001
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: not liking who I am because of the color of

1002
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:46,600
Speaker 1: my skin prevent me from wanting to achieve, I'll be

1003
00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:50,560
Speaker 1: dead or in prison. I mean, come on, people, we

1004
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:54,520
Speaker 1: have to go get it. My fraternity taught us what

1005
00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:59,239
Speaker 1: excuses meant. Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to

1006
00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:03,360
Speaker 1: build monuments nothingness, and those who specialize in them seldom

1007
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:04,240
Speaker 1: amount to anything.

1008
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:08,719
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Donald, My last question was what's your

1009
00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:11,279
Speaker 2: favorite motivational quote? But I feel like everyone should just

1010
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:13,520
Speaker 2: write down what you just said and the motivational quote

1011
00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:16,440
Speaker 2: of the day can be by Donald Betts because that

1012
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:21,160
Speaker 2: was absolutely incredible. You're just an incredible human being. Thank

1013
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:22,080
Speaker 2: you so much for your time.

1014
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:24,880
Speaker 1: I have one more for you. If you think you

1015
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,319
Speaker 1: are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not

1016
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:30,040
Speaker 1: you don't. If you like to win but don't think

1017
00:53:30,040 --> 00:53:33,240
Speaker 1: you can, it's almost a sense you won't. Life's battles

1018
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:36,160
Speaker 1: on't always go to the stronger, faster man, but sooner

1019
00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:38,160
Speaker 1: or later, the man who wins is the fellow who

1020
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:38,799
Speaker 1: thinks he can.

1021
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:43,279
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Mike Drop who.

1022
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:47,560
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for having me.

1023
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:50,319
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, thank you so much. They couldn't be

1024
00:53:50,520 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 2: anything better to share with people as they contemplate a

1025
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,279
Speaker 2: new year, a clean slate, and a fresh start than

1026
00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:58,480
Speaker 2: your absolute wisdom. Thank you so much again.

1027
00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:00,719
Speaker 1: And if you can put Greenland and your soul notes,

1028
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 1: that'd be great. You know Greenland the podcast will we

1029
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: explore the similarities and differences between Australia and the United States.

1030
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I didn't know that was what it

1031
00:54:08,520 --> 00:54:11,839
Speaker 2: was about, as you know, you know, I already picked

1032
00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:13,520
Speaker 2: your brain about this earlier in the show. I think

1033
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:17,200
Speaker 2: it's so fascinating how similar we think we are, but

1034
00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:20,400
Speaker 2: just how many differences there actually are structurally. So I

1035
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:23,759
Speaker 2: can only imagine how fascinating your podcast must be. So

1036
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:27,040
Speaker 2: everyone listening absolutely tune in. I will include the link

1037
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:30,120
Speaker 2: in the show notes as well. Don thank you so

1038
00:54:30,320 --> 00:54:32,840
Speaker 2: much again, You've just been absolutely wonderful.

1039
00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: Thank you very much.

1040
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:36,960
Speaker 2: If you aren't obsessed by don By now, I don't

1041
00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:40,480
Speaker 2: think you were listening properly. I love conversations that stretch

1042
00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:43,680
Speaker 2: my brain, and I could almost feel the mental gymnastics

1043
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:45,319
Speaker 2: going on in my head as I listened to him

1044
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:49,840
Speaker 2: speak so passionately about his values, priorities and passion for

1045
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:53,080
Speaker 2: making the most out of life. What a great caesar

1046
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:57,680
Speaker 2: of va. Please do keep on sharing the episodes you enjoy,

1047
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:00,239
Speaker 2: tagging us so that we know what you thought, or

1048
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 2: take a moment to subscribe to the podcast or leave

1049
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:04,600
Speaker 2: us a review if you haven't yet. It was actually

1050
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:07,240
Speaker 2: surprising how many people who took the servier and loved

1051
00:55:07,239 --> 00:55:09,840
Speaker 2: the show couldn't believe that they hadn't taken a moment

1052
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 2: to leave a review. And I'm guilty of doing that

1053
00:55:11,719 --> 00:55:14,440
Speaker 2: of course as well. It's so easy to forget, but

1054
00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:16,880
Speaker 2: it only takes a couple of seconds and really really

1055
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 2: helps us keep growing the neighborhood and also lets our

1056
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:22,399
Speaker 2: guests know what you learned from them giving their time

1057
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:25,399
Speaker 2: to the show. I will be back shortly with an

1058
00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:28,279
Speaker 2: intro to our new segment two, which is also the

1059
00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:31,279
Speaker 2: product of the Serve Yer. I have tried to take

1060
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,400
Speaker 2: on as much feedback as possible and can't wait for

1061
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:36,879
Speaker 2: a bigger and brighter twenty twenty one. Hope you're all

1062
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,680
Speaker 2: having an amazing start to the year and are seizing

1063
00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:48,279
Speaker 2: your yeay