I recently sat down to interview former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal. As someone who grew up with posters of Shaq on my wall, jerseys in my closet, and merch everywhere, it’s no understatement to say that he was my childhood hero. Needless to say, I had a million questions that were important to me. But I wanted to know what was important to Shaq. So I asked him…
Travis: With all the division and polarity that’s in the world right now, if you could have one video that you knew would go so viral that everybody in the world would see it, what would be the message that you would put out?
Shaq: A lot of times when I go viral, I don’t plan to go viral. When I plan to go viral they don’t go viral. But to answer your question, I would give people the definition of respect and then try to tell a story behind it.
I realized that everybody’s different. So you may say your panels behind you are black. I might say – because I see things different – that they’re dark, dark gray. You don’t have to argue or fight over it. Just have to respect each other’s opinions. So I’m able to stop time and be different sides.
So, you’ve got a lot of people, “Vaccine. Should I take it or not?”
I understand people’s thoughts.
Cancer has been around for years. You don’t come up with a vaccine for that.
HIV has been around. You don’t come up with a vaccine for that.
All of a sudden this thing comes. Now you have a vaccine. Now you want to make us take it?
I understand the people that don’t want to take it. I understand the people that do want to take it.
The problem right now is that everybody has a voice, everybody has a say-so, and everybody thinks they’re right. And you might be right. But if I’m right and you think you’re right, I’m not going to try to change your opinion of what you think is right.
So to answer your question, I would do a video about just respecting each other and respecting people’s thoughts, and respecting people’s mindsets.
I’m never going to make you do anything that you don’t want to do. I’m never going to try to convince you to do something that you don’t want to do. It’s not my place in life. My place in life is to respect you as I expect you to respect me. And I think if we go back to that, a lot of these problems we have will start to diminish.
For more incredible interviews with thought-leaders, athletes, and entrepreneurs, visit TravisChappell.com
