Dignity: The Living Principles of Mom 

I have the honor of being asked to speak at the Berkshire Community College (BCC) Associates Degree Nursing Pinning Ceremony next month. This is an honor because it was the starting point of my nursing career. BCC helped a young man with a learning disability that anything is possible even getting through one of the most challenging nursing programs in the state. I graduated in 1995 at the age of thirty-one. I had an opportunity to be the guest speaker at my pinning on May 29, 1995 (If anyone remembers that was the day the tornado swept through Great Barrington). On that day I did not realize the importance of the gift I was given. Instead of being a celebration of our accomplishments it turned into speaking about our frustrations.  

I received another opportunity to speak in May of 2014 when I graduated from Elms College nursing program with a bachelor’s in nursing. My class voted for me as the speaker. This was a special day because my mother was there to see what all her hard work had accomplished. On this day I understood the importance of this opportunity and I took the opportunity to thank all those who supported the graduates through this challenging 2-year program which most of us did while working full-time jobs. It was a great moment because I had my mom and my family there to celebrate with me. 

On January 18, 2024, I will be speaking to the future nurses. Often in these types of speeches we want to motivate others. Although motivation is a great thing it is often stopped when challenges present themselves. We hit a brick wall motivation dies. I don’t want to just motivate them. I want to give tools for success so that they can climb over that wall. I want to do for them what my mother did for my brothers and me. She gave us the tools for success. It wasn’t just a 5-minute speech. It was years of teaching right from wrong and having us believe we could do anything. My mother did not want us to be part of the negative statistic the news often quoted about young Black men. Her desire was for us to be part of the many young Black men who have been successful in their lives. It was her principles of tough love that guided us, and I hope to share that with my children and with all those I encounter. 

When I speak to these nursing graduates it will be an opportunity to share the wisdom of my mother and what I have learned as a nurse for the last 29 years. It has and still is an honor for me to be part of the nursing movement. We have an opportunity to change lives one person at a time. I hope to share with all our future nurses and anyone who has faced challenges in their lives that success is possible. Success isn’t just measured by what we accomplish as individuals. It is measured also by how we can help others succeed. I tell people my mother is the greatest leader I know. It is not because she has a fancy title (She did not). It is not because she had lots of money (Nope). It is because she passed on the lessons of life to her sons so that they could be successful, and her sons are touching the lives of others in the same way. My mother has a PhD in living and those living principles have been passed to her three sons. 

My brother Tracy says to me all the time he is waiting for the book. Maybe this is the time. “The Living Principles of Phyllis King, Mother, Wife, and Leader”. Maybe??? 

I want to end by quoting my mother’s favorite, former President Barak Obama, 

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.” 

That quote is who my mother was and what she instilled in her young men. 

We miss you Phyllis, but your lessons live on inside us.  

Charles Redd RN 

Dignity Freedom Fighter