From SGI USA, I'm Cassidy Bradford, and this is Bootability, the weekly series where I talk

with Buddhists from all walks of life about the power we each have to change our lives

and the world around us.

What would you do if someone said to you, look, I just don't think it's in the cards for you?

Would you think, yeah, they're probably right?

Or would you take it as an opportunity to dig deep and prove them wrong?

For some of you, maybe this isn't a hypothetical.

You've had someone tell you that you can't accomplish something.

Or if not a someone, you've had society say, someone like you isn't capable of something like that.

Buddhism teaches that the only person who can determine that is you.

Today's guest, Wayne Thomas Jr. of Los Angeles, always knew he was an artist, but his environment told him to pursue other

paths. He shares how he developed the spirit to never give up and how he's passing it on to his

children.

Welcome to bootability, Wayne. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm really thrilled to hear your story.

We're going to also explore like generational karma and how things connect with others and your career and family.

There's many, many great things that we're going to get into.

So thank you so much for taking time out of your weekend for this.

But I always have guests just introduce themselves.

So you can tell me a little bit about who you are, where you live, what you do for work,

anything else that you feel like is important to know about you. Sure, sure. So thank you for that,

a wonderful and so generous introduction, Cassidy. It's a pleasure to be here and just to participate and contribute towards our greater community to uplift, you know, people. My name is Wayne Thomas.

I'm actually originally from Brooklyn, New York.

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