When you can actually go out and touch somebody's life and have an impact on them and help them for their future, there's nothing else like it.
Interpretation
Making a positive impact on others' lives is one of the most fulfilling experiences.
This quote emphasizes the profound sense of fulfillment and joy that comes from positively influencing the lives of others. Tony Gonzalez highlights the importance of connection and support in personal interactions, suggesting that the ability to impact someone's future brings unparalleled satisfaction, making it a core aspect of a meaningful life.
In practice
Using this quote during a motivational speech about community service.
I have soaked this league up for everything it's worth. I've had fun. Made some great relationships. I don't regret anything. Don't regret being in Kansas City. It's all been very good to me. So why would I take that approach? There will be no pity party thrown here.
I think when you give, that's probably the highest form of living. It's better than almost any feeling you could think of. It's way better than scoring touchdowns to me.
Dealing with bullies when I was in sixth and seventh grade has made me a better football player, believe it or not. You have to come to a point when you're like, 'I've had enough, and I'm not going to be kicked around and pushed around anymore.'
Every birthday, you decide whether to mark it the end of your greatest days or the beginning of your finest hour.
I do know the sorrow of being ordinary, and that much of our life is spent doing the crazy mental arithmetic of how, at any given moment, we might improve, or at least disguise or present our defects and screw-ups in either more charming or more intimidating ways.
If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.
They say night's beauties fade at dawn, and the children of wine are oft disowned in the morning light.
We throw our parties; we abandon our families to live alone in Canada; we struggle to write books that do not change the world, despite our gifts and our unstinting efforts, our most extravagant hopes. We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep--it's as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease or, if we're very fortunate, by time itself.
Upon the demon-ridden pilgrimage of human life, what next I wonder.
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