Appreciating Our Differences👐

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Season 2: Episode 33 Description

In today’s episode: 🕊️ Today is the International Day of Tolerance. Learn about what the day means and why our differences make us special. 👐 Correspondent Ryan Nerz talks to an amazing teen about how she overcame her stutter and dealt with bullies. 🗞️ In the news: Rising prices and new space records. 🚀 And test your knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅

Sources for the episode

International Day for Tolerance | United Nations

Here are 32 Young Activists Who Are Changing the World | Complex

Human space traveler No. 600 is launched into orbit : NPR

EXPLAINER: Why US inflation is so high, and when it may ease | WOODTV.com

Game on: 9-foot video game joystick on record as largest (apnews.com)

Who Said “United We Stand Divided We Fall”? (yourdictionary.com)

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TRANSCRIPT:

Bethany Van Delft  0:03  

The only way to have a friend is to be one, so says the famous American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Can something called tolerance help us be better friends? We're all in this together. Today we're celebrating respect, acceptance, and the International Day for Tolerance. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Tuesday, November 16th and this is The Ten News. 

Various Voices  0:29  

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Bethany Van Delft  0:37  

Five years ago, the United Nations declared November 16th as a day for all people to practice and celebrate tolerance. What is tolerance? Tolerance, as defined by the UN respect, acceptance, and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression, and ways of being human. That's beautiful. Being tolerant means recognizing that our world is made up of all kinds of different people and that everyone deserves the same basic human rights and freedoms. It means that instead of being afraid of or excluding people who are different from us, we embrace and appreciate our differences. That's what I'm talking about. What's that you said? How can you practice tolerance? Have you ever had to deal with a bully? Bullies are not tolerant, they mistreat everyone that is different from them. Correspondent Ryan Nerz joins us today with the story of an amazing teen who overcame bullying. She also happens to be his niece.

Ryan Nerz  1:45  

Today is the International Day for Tolerance created by the United Nations 25 years ago to promote tolerance between human beings throughout the world. I was trying to think of someone who personifies tolerance. And I immediately thought of a remarkable young woman. 

Nicky  2:01  

My name is Nicky and I am 19 years old.

Ryan Nerz  2:04  

But, I should confess that I am a bit biased because well, I'm sort of...

Nicky  2:10  

Your relation to me is that you are my uncle on my maternal side.

Ryan Nerz  2:16  

Right. So Nicky is my niece. But that in no way detracts from her story, which is about overcoming intolerance and turning a weakness into a strength. So sometime around preschool, Nikki realized she had a little problem.

Nicky  2:33  

And I remember not being able to talk really at all like I could barely get any words out.

Ryan Nerz  2:41  

Nikki soon discovered that she, like 70 million other people worldwide has a stutter. But just because stuttering is relatively common, doesn't make it any easier.

Nicky  2:53  

I think it makes everything harder. Cause people either can't understand you or you don't talk. So, it's kind of hard to make friends that way.

Ryan Nerz  3:02  

And some kids were just downright mean, one memory from middle school stands out.

Nicky  3:08  

I remember I was out with a group of people who I thought were my friends. And all of a sudden, one of them who I'd had issues with before, um, started mocking me in front of everyone, and no one stood up for me. So I literally walked home crying, and then I was like, oh, like.

Ryan Nerz  3:30  

She can laugh now. But episodes like this were far from funny. 

Nicky  3:35  

I think it always made me feel really hurt. Um, to this day, like, I get really offended when people make fun of it. Especially when it's something I have no control over. But I also think it made me a better writer. Cuz, you know, when you're writing an essay, you don't have to read that aloud. But so I could kind of just focus on everything I always wanted to say about that topic or a question or anything, and I just put that into my writing. 

Ryan Nerz  4:04  

And, there were other upsides too.

Nicky  4:06  

It made me a better listener. Because when you talk less, you notice more about what people are saying, and you kind of, you know, cut through the nonsense a little bit.

Ryan Nerz  4:17  

With the help of her listening skills, Nikki learned to choose her friends wisely.

Nicky  4:22  

I definitely have struggled a couple of times, especially when I was younger, and I couldn't talk as much um, with kids that were just really nice. And who didn't ask the question or mock me for the way I talked or anything?

Ryan Nerz  4:37  

Over time, Nikki found ways to socialize and control her stutter, but it didn't just magically disappear.

Nicky  4:44  

I mean, there are definitely sounds that I just know ahead of time. I'm like, I cannot pronounce that. Like so. Like, my school starts with an A. I cannot pronounce a to save my life like the full name, I just can't ever get through.

Ryan Nerz  5:01  

But these are just minor stumbling blocks. And Nikki has learned stuttering doesn't have to hold her back. She remembers watching the movie The King's Speech about England's King George the sixth, who overcame a stutter to give an important speech.

Nicky  5:16  

A king who stutters like you, you never think of that because they got to, you know, make like addresses to the whole country and like, they fight wars and you know, they sign all this stuff. 

Ryan Nerz  5:28  

King George is one of many famous stutterers including Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Kendrick Lamar. and another absolute icon Joe Biden, you know, he stutters he's a stutterer. And, so the fact that he's a president is just amazing. And just like President Biden, Nicky's doing quite well. In fact, she's in college right across town from him at? Well, let's let her tell it.

Nicky  5:57  

I go to American University in Washington DC. Look, I nailed it, American. Hey, I'm majoring in justice and law. And yeah, I hope to go into government one day.

Ryan Nerz  6:12  

And just in case you also struggle with a stutter or a speech impediment, or any sort of limitation. She's got some words of advice.

Nicky  6:20  

I would say that you're fine. Like there's nothing wrong with you. When people are mean to you, it says more about them than yourself.

Ryan Nerz  6:30  

She's also got some words for all of us whenever we are tempted to judge others. So on this day, dedicated me to tolerance for others. I leave you with Nicky's gentle words of empathy and hope.

Nicky  6:43 

Literally, if you just change the way you look at somebody or if you just change the way you talk to somebody or you become more of a listener than like a talker, you just become so much more enjoyable and society becomes so much less ignorant and they just you know, life is better.

Bethany Van Delft  7:03  

Big Ten New snaps for Nicky being her whole self. So many kids around the US are standing up against bullying and intolerance. We learned about a few that we want to give a Ten News standing ovation to. First up,  Thandiwe Abdullah, an 18-year-old activist in Los Angeles, was involved in the launch of the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard, which helps get the next generation involved in furthering the work of the BLM Movement. Awesome. Next up, Ashton Mota, who at 13 came out as transgender and worked with the school to make it a supportive space for him and other transgender students to go. And last but certainly not least, Desmond Napoles, a 15-year-old LGBTQ+ activist from New York City, uses drag to encourage people to be themselves. He uses the name Desmond is Amazing. And his motto is, Be yourself, always. Yes, that's a good motto. Is there anyone in your life that deserves The Ten News standing O?, Let us know. Send us a note at hello@thetennews.com or leave us a voicemail at 877-TEN-NEWS. That's 877 T E N N E W S. Now let's check in on what else is happening.

Bethany Van Delft  7:44

More than 600 people, 601 to be exact, have now been to outer space after former astronauts went to orbit on a SpaceX rocket last week. One of those people, actor William Shatner, famous for his role as Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series, set a record for being the oldest person in space. He is 90 years old and still exploring Space, the final frontier. You may have heard your parents complain that prices for many items from milk to gasoline keep going up. And it doesn't look like it'll be going down anytime soon. The rise in prices is called inflation. Check out our previous episode where correspondent Pamela Kirklin explains what it means for your piggy bank. The world's largest video game joystick is now part of the Guinness Book of World Records. The giant joystick was created by a college professor using wood, steel, and rubber and is a whopping nine feet tall. And yes, it can be used to play video games, though it takes at least two players to operate. We love multiplayer games. Lucky you, it's time for...

Various Voices  10:05  

What, what, what's the big idea? 

Bethany Van Delft  10:08  

Trivia on The Ten. People have been writing and speaking about tolerance for hundreds of years. And one of the most famous phrases about standing up to bullying is, "United we stand, divided we fall. But who said it first? Was it a) Abraham Lincoln b) Maya Angelou or c) Aesop? Did you guess it? The answer is c) Aesop. You know the Greek guy who wrote a bunch of fables. In Aesop's fable, The Four Oxen and the Lion, a group of oxen work together to protect each other from a lion. But when the oxen argue and go their separate ways, the lion easily picks them off. If we let our differences divide us, we set ourselves up for failure. But by working together, we can all succeed and avoid being eaten. Time is up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is celebrating their differences and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Adam Barnard, Tessa Flannery, and Nathalie Alonso. Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. And now I'm going to go binge-watch some Desmond Napoles videos of them being themselves.