Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez

The USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, ‘those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,’ recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. ‘It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.’

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the ‘hair on my neck stood up.’ ‘It had a big meaning to it for all of us,’ he said. ‘They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back.’

The ship’s motto? ‘Never Forget’

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
Motivational Speakers
Motivational Speakers

Taddy Blecher is changing lives in South Africa

Entrepreneurs tend to bite off a little more than they can chew hoping they’ll quickly learn how to chew it.

Eight years ago, from his office in Johannesburg in South Africa, without any university buildings, courses or staff, he began faxing out a letter of invitation to 350 schools.

He asked the brightest and poorest students to apply for a new university - and promised them the “best business education in Africa”.

This was going to be South Africa’s first free university, created to serve talented youngsters from the poor black communities who could never afford to send their children to the established universities.

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I have had the honor of sharing the stage with Charlie Tremendous Jones many times. I feel priviledged to be his friend. Charlie has a heart of gold and has spent the last 50 years sharing his wisdom around the world.

Charlie has been battling cancer for several years. He is losing his voice but not his spirit. Charlie Tremendous Jones is battling cancer in the same way he has lived the past 81 years.

Charlie has counseled some of the biggest names in politics, religion, and sports since 1950. He has sold millions of books and given away millions more. His voice is muffled now because of an inoperable tumor on his lung, but his message is not.

He still has his trademark optimism and says he is not sad about his cancer diagnosis.

“Some live their lives according to the calendar. I live my life according to experiences, so I think I’m about 1,800 years and I’m tired. I gotta get out of here,” he laughs.

In typical fashion, Charlie is uplifting and motivational to the end.

We love you Charlie.

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
Motivational Speakers
Motivational Speakers

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

I was just in South Africa where I got to speak for O’Keeffe and Swartz, and Alexander Forbes, two of South Africa’s most respected financial services companies.

The week before heading “down under,” I thought that Skydiving in South Africa had a nice ring to it. I figured I might as well check it off my bucket list while I was there.

I contacted the Johannesburg Skydiving Club and arranged to jump with Chris Grosch, a veteran skydiver who has jumped over 7000 times in the last 20 years. Chris was a trememdous guide. He kept me relaxed by telling me stories of his clients and by being relaxed himself.

The worst part of skydiving is everything that happens before the jump. The fear of the unknown. The climb to 11,000 feet takes about 12 minutes and that’s when you are nervous. That’s when you start thinking of everything that could go wrong.

Then, all of a sudden, everything starts happening really fast. The door in the back of the plane rolls open, the other six skydivers fly out the door, and the instructor has you kneel at the edge of the open plane.

That’s a good time to say your last prayer! Then, you feel a gentle push, and all you see is the ground. You are so high up that there is no sensation of falling. It’s actually a lot of fun after you jump. The fear is gone and all you feel is exhileration.

You fall for about 45 seconds and then the instructor opens the chute. Opening the chute is actually a letdown because the exciting part is over.

For the next 5 minutes you glide gently to the ground. There is absolutely no sensation of falling. You can actually steer the parachute left and right like an airplane. You can land it anywhere the wind and glideslope will let you.

The idea of skydiving is a lot more scary than the actual jump. It’s just like when you are a kid and the idea of jumping from the high dive in a pool is scarier than actually jumping. Once you do what you fear, the fear dissappears. Fear is a smokescreen. Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from your dreams.

My skydiving instructor helped me overcome a fear. Find someone who has done what you fear and ask them to help you go for your dreams!

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
Motivational Speakers
Motivational Speakers

Juval Aviv - Golda Meir’s Bodyguard, Anti Terrorism Expert

Note from Ruben about this posting:

What does this have to do with motivation? Everything. Hopefully it will motivate people to take terrorism seriously. As an Olympic athlete and professional speaker, I travel all over the world and have seen a lot of the things in this article first hand. Juval Aviv is 100% right. Most Americans are misinformed and have no clue about how serious terrorism really is.

Read on. This article is a major wake up call.

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie ‘Munich’ was based.

He was Golda Meir’s bodyguard–she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.

In a lecture in New York City a few weeks ago, he shared information that EVERY American needs to know–but that our government has not yet shared with us. (Aviv’s bio is noted at end.)

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A better way to get around…

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

The good old days…

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

“Leaders are made, they are not born; and they are made just like anything else has ever been made in this country-by hard effort. And that’s the price that we all have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

“And despite of what we say about being born equal, none of us really are born equal, but rather unequal. And yet the talented are no more responsible for their birthright than the underprivileged. And the measure of each should be what each does in a specific situation.”

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to be tolerant of a society who has sympathy only for the misfits, only for the maladjusted, only for the criminal, only for the loser. Have sympathy for them, help them, but I think it’s also a time for all of us to stand up for and to cheer for the doer, the achiever, on who recognizes a problem and does something about it one who looks at something extra to do for his country, the winner, the leader!”

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com

Running of the Bulls in Pamplona - July 7-14

Tomorrow, my buddy Greg Reid and I will be heading out to Spain to run with the bulls. I’ve been dreaming of doing this for about 20 years. It’s great to finally get to do it…

Pamplona gets more and more crowded each year. The hordes of drunk people in the streets are a bigger danger than the bulls. We intend to run sober.

About 3% of the people running get injured. There have been 14 deaths since 1900. Just like the luge, Pamplona has a desrvedly bad reputation.

It is very easy to trip up and fall. Most of the injuries are contusions resulting from falls. You have to run looking in front, behind and at the ground. Once you are in with the herd, the safest place is right next to the bulls as other runners will not get in your way. If you fall, the best thing to do is curl up and keep still.

Pile-ups occur when one or several runners trip up, causing other runners to fall on top of them. There have been 24, with a total of 700 injured. The best-known pile-ups have taken place at the entrance to the Bullring. These were on the 7th of July 1922 (100 injured), the 7th of July 1943 (24 injured), the 9th of July 1975 (1 dead, 16 seriously injured and 100 with contusions) and the 8th of July 1977 (1 dead and 35 with contusions).

Stay tuned for more stories from Pamplona…

For some great information on traveling in Spain, check this out…

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez
www.TheOlympicSpeaker.com