Bryan Stevenson

And I remembered on this night turning to that kid and saying, hey man, what's your name?

And this little boy tried to answer my question, but he also had a speech impediment and he couldn't get his words out and he stuttered terribly.

And then I remembered that I did something really ignorant.

When that little boy couldn't get his words out right, I laughed.

And my mother saw me laughing and she gave me this look I'd never seen before.

And she came over and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me aside.

She said, Brian, don't you ever laugh at somebody because they can't get their words out right.

And even at 10, I was a little bit of a young lawyer.

And I was like, Mom, I wasn't laughing.

I couldn't hear.

There were lights going on.

There were things happening all around me.

And my mother said, no, Brian, you know better than that.

And then she looked at me.

She said, now you go back over there and you tell that little boy you're sorry.

I said, okay.

And I took a step and my mom wasn't satisfied.

She grabbed me by the arm.

She said, wait, after you tell that little boy you're sorry, I want you to hug that little boy.

And I kind of rolled my eyes.