Listen to Morris Hood III in 2013 Speech: “Take Advantage of Every Day That You Have.”

Morris Hood III died this week at the age of 54 from complications of COVID-19. 

“We are all running in a dark room, full speed at a brick wall. Be prepared for it.” — Former state Sen. Morris Hood III (D-Detroit)

In 2013, before the state Legislature left Lansing for Christmas, Hood addressed his colleagues on the Senate floor after a day filled with vitriol and anger between Senate Democrats and Republicans. Instead of adding fuel to that political fire, he talked about how this would be his first Christmas without his deceased wife. 

The speech was met with applause from both sides of the aisle, a rarity at the state Capitol following floor speeches of any substance. 

Watch and read Hood’s impactful 2013 speech below, and listen to his colleague’s remembering him on Detroit Today here.

As delivered, edited for length and clarity.

Last year, I didn’t know that it would be my wife’s last Christmas. 

And this year, I struggle with it. And I say to all of you, look deep within your hearts. Look deep within your lives, and look deep within your souls, to really understand what life is all about. We can pass laws, we can make laws, and we change lives here, every day. But the precious life that we have is not always going to be here.

“You can’t judge everybody by what your life is all about, and what you believe in, and how you grew up.”

So as we leave here, just look at your fellow man and fellow woman. And take a piece of that and try to understand their life, not just from your point-of-view, but from their point-of-view. Everybody’s life is not the same. You can’t judge everybody by what your life is all about, and what you believe in, and how you grew up. Open up your eyes, open up your mind, and open up your heart to understand. You don’t have to believe in it, but just try to understand what someone else is going through.

Be it if they are on drugs… people don’t wake up and think, “Hey, today I’m going to get addicted to drugs, or alcohol.” It happens. It’s life. And I know that we look for things to try to stop that and not encourage that, but there are other ways to do it. Let’s get them help. Some of them don’t want to take the help, because of the addiction that they have. But we have to have the help for them. 

“Love someone else. Love someone else that you don’t even know.”

Enjoy this. Enjoy your family. Enjoy your spouses. Tell them that you love them every day, because tomorrow may not be here. It may not. 

And if I can go back and go to last Christmas, I’d do it differently. I’d spend more time at home. I’d love a little bit more. Kiss a little bit more. I’d touch a little bit more. And when I go home tonight, I can’t do it. If I was the most powerful man in the world, if I had all the money in the world, I can’t do it. You can. 

Take advantage of that. Take advantage of every day that you have. Help someone else out. Love someone else. Love someone else that you don’t even know.

“Don’t have the regrets that I had from the last Christmas, saying I should have, I could have, I would have.”

Because we are all running in a dark room, full speed at a brick wall, and you don’t know when you’re going to hit it. You know, at night time when you get up and it’s dark in the house, you kind of feel your way through the house, and you don’t want to run into anything, but think about running at it full speed and you don’t know when you are going to hit it.

And you’re running at it; everybody in here is running at that brick wall. Be prepared for it.

Don’t have the regrets that I had from the last Christmas, saying I should have, I could have, I would have. Do it now.

Take the time to love everyone, because that’s the way God wants it to be. Shake a hand; give a hug. Take this Christmas, take this time to do that, because you don’t know what it’s going to be looking like for the next Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of you.