If I should have a daughter ... | Sarah Kay 

Sarah Kay would literally be the best teacher ever

Leaving this comment here, so that whenever someone likes this, i listen to this masterpiece again….

"but getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air."

2 years after watching this and I still come back repeatedly

Why couldn't she have been my teacher? Then I'd always look forward to class.

And just like that, the world fell in love with Sarah Kay.

My favorite part: "When I meet you, in that moment, I'm no longer a part of your future... I start quickly becoming part of your past... But in that instant, I get to share your present - and you, you get to share mine... And that is the greatest present of all..." Really great stuff!!! Sarah is simply amazing!!!

Sarah Kay is one of the most inspiring people I have come across online. She is my favorite poet. She makes me want to create new poetry, music, and art all at the same time. Sarah Kay, thank you for helping me start my journey as a person who walks through life with their hands out, in case something wonderful happens to fall into them.

sarah kay is the reason i started slam poetry. it really is my passion, just recently i performed a poem in my school theatre. im really glad my gr 8 teacher forced me to watch this because i never forgot about it.

We watched this in my English class last year. This is what got me into spoken words poetry. Now I'm writing my own poetry (over 600 notes on Tumblr) and am listening to new poems everyday, thanks to this video. I fell in love with this video, and tried to linger in the classroom after the bell rang and it was still playing. This inspired me, because while my anxiety gets in the way of me passing English every year, poetry is becoming my escape. Never underestimate women. Never underestimate poets. Most of all, never underestimate women who happen to be poets, and poets who happen to be women.

it's almost 2016 and I'm still watching this

I love this. I've always loved this. You can see the passion in her eyes, in her face expressions, in the way she moves around, even how she speaks. It's unbelievable how happiness is glowing right out of her. I'm absolutely in love with this speech.

it’s been almost 10 years since i saw this video and i will never stop coming back to it. i can recite most of it because she has a brilliant way of putting things.

her voice is so hypnotizing

The Giant girl in hoodie must be really happy if she could remember it ...

I feel like she raised so many good points. People do walk with armors, protecting themselves from emotions because one of them might carry a little pain. People do listen to you waiting for their turn to talk, they no longer care about the quality of your words but only to contradict them. I've never really enjoyed poetry because I felt like poets speak in ways they only understand, they only want to tell their story and not that of others, the voiceless, the small. It allows you to communicate your self-interest, your narcissism and then be applauded for it. But now, I realize I'm wrong, this girl's changed my mind in 18 minutes. Funny enough, my name is Sara too and I feel like I can do the impossible.

I watch this video from time to time and I always go for the "like" button, to find out it's already pressed.

"Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air." Love it.

"Anderson Cooper is a gorgeous man" This girl is amazing. She embodies what it means to be a fangirl.

“This world is made of sugar, it can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it” This line is so true I love it

12 years ago I was a teenager who had a narcissistic mother who I so desperately wanted to love me. But this - I memorized this. Because I dreamed of being this mother for MY daughter. And now, I’m about to be a mother. And I will make sure my little one KNOWS this too. Thank you Sarah. Thank you.

Cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.

I love vulnerability.

This is the most beautiful, poetic, and inspirational TED talk intro I've ever seen. Hot damn.

My fave TED Talk. It's been years but I keep coming back 🥰

my school saw this live

Sarah Kay has always been one of my favorite poets. I keep coming back to this.

I have a tattoo dedicated to Sarah and this poem. “Because there’s nothing more beautiful then the way the oceanline refuses to stop kissing the shore, no matter how many times it’s sent away” ❤️

"small hands and big eyes that never stops asking for more" "your voice is small but don't ever stop singing" I swear this sounds just like she's my momma lol

I want to write poetry so damn bad. I admire poets so much and I aspire to be them. most people, however, don't take 17 year olds too seriously. I've been in public speaking since 7th grade and this really reminded me how unique everyone's writing is and how unique their stories are.

"This life will hit you hard in the face, wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air." wow

I've lost track of how many times I've watched this. It really doesn't matter though, it gives me thrill bumps everytime. Sarah Kay, you go girl!

10 years later, it’s still gold, and I keep coming back to this.

I think my replay button broke lol

I didn't know that first part was a poem and I thought she was just insane...

Finally, I can hear what the poetess is saying. Love it, understand it even. It is said at a speed that is vexing, a quietness that speaks volumes. Sarah, you speak with heart and it does not have to be vulgar or shocking. I will be listening for more and go back to writing.

This TED talk made me see a whole new side of what I can do. That life is actually worth all the struggles. That I can make it even though my struggles aren't as harsh or bad as some that there is inspiration to do better, like this video, and that giving up isn't an option. Sarah Kay if you see this, thank you. You really changed my viewpoint on life, and what I can discover and succeed.

she has a nice voice

ANDERSON COOPER IS A GORGEOUS MAN.

I wish she was my poetry teacher. She's so encouraging. My poetry professor sucks the passion out of each student every week. I came here to remember you can still love something while someone is trying to take it away from you.

"no Anderson, you're a god"😂

I like her voice so much

ugh that beginning is so beautiful it makes me tear up. she has such a way with words :) and she is super cool!

This is the most beautiful and inspiring thing i've seen in a very long time...

How does she know all this from memory?!

I find myself coming back to watch this video every once in a while.. it truly is medicine for the soul. Thank you Sarah, you're a sunbeam.

I will literally write this down for my future daughter because this is exact what she can’t forget . Sarah, you have a brilliant mind and a beautiful heart.

"No Anderson, you're the GOD"

My first Sarah Kay poem. Always gets me just as it did that first time

My teacher showed us this in 6th grade and I've had a deep love for poetry ever since 😊😊

My language arts teacher showed me this talk and I was blown away. Sarah Kay has become my favorite poet

Incredibly Beautiful.

I could honestly watch anything by this woman a million and ten times

i wish i had a mom like this. all i got was empty stolen rum bottles bashed into my head. i admire this women

I can listen to her poems like million times :D

She IS poetry 11:59 "I use spoken word to help my students Rediscover wonder. To fight their instincts to be cool and un-phased and instead actively pursue being engaged with what goes on around them so that they can reinterpret and create something from it" -Sarah Kay TED Talks 3/2011 Damn beautiful.

First time I watched Sarah’s Ted Talk was 7 years ago. 7 years later and it still touches the soul.

The message at the start itself was, in my opinion, not the most interesting. But how it was spoken was beautiful.

It is such a privilege just to hear Sarah speak. I discovered spoken word poetry just a few days earlier, and since then it is on my "to do list" to hear Sarah's poems, every day, because they're wonderful and painfully true at the same time. Thank you Sarah!

Omgg Sarah Kay and Phil Kay came to my school

Her daughter is basically Riley from Girl Meets World 😂

She is so freaking amazing! I had the privilege of seeing her live and she didn't perform this piece but it will always be one of my favorites. And she's tall! Which i didn't know until I stood next to her 😆

These are tough times for my daughter and me. So we listen to this a lot

I performed If I should have a daughter 3 days ago at my school talent show and made pretty much all the parents in the audience cry...

Sarah: i am pretty damn naive Classroom: May i chime in?

اولین باری که این اجرا رو دیدم احتمالا تقریبا 14 ساله بودم. پر شورترین چیزی بود که من رو به وجد میاورد. سال های زیادی گذشته اما این اجرا هنوز برای من الهام بخشه. Sarah, you are truly an inspiring woman.

She is so proud of that joke.

I'm watching this for the third time and I'm still hooked and amazed

This made feel not depressed.

i've watched this too many times.

It's so strange this video came out almost five years ago. I still remember it showing up in my subscription box and liking it so much it earned a permanent spot in my favorites playlist. Sometimes I even sing "there's days like this my momma said" and I've never even heard the song it came from or if it's even a real song. This is still one of my favorite Ted talks of all time. Sarah Kay is so talented, I wish I was like her. Enjoy this video. I definitely will and I've probably seen it at least twenty times by now.

"There'll be days like this my mama said." Wish my mama said that. Sarah Kay couldn't have sang it any better.

I started to get in spoken word poetry and I loved it but this , this inspired me so much. I'm only 13 and I want to do spoken word poetry

an amazing woman with a big heart 😘 very inspiring

This will forever be one of my favorite TED Talks.

If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B, because that way she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I'm going to paint solar systems on the backs of her hands, so she has to learn the entire universe before she can say, "Oh, I know that like the back of my hand." And she's going to learn that this life will hit you hard in the face, wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt here that cannot be fixed by Band-Aids or poetry. So the first time she realizes that Wonder Woman isn't coming, I'll make sure she knows she doesn't have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I've tried. "And, baby," I'll tell her, "don't keep your nose up in the air like that. I know that trick; I've done it a million times. You're just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house, so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else find the boy who lit the fire in the first place, to see if you can change him." But I know she will anyway, so instead I'll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boots nearby, because there is no heartbreak that chocolate can't fix. Okay, there's a few heartbreaks that chocolate can't fix. But that's what the rain boots are for. Because rain will wash away everything, if you let it. I want her to look at the world through the underside of a glass-bottom boat, to look through a microscope at the galaxies that exist on the pinpoint of a human mind, because that's the way my mom taught me. That there'll be days like this. ♫ There'll be days like this, my momma said. ♫ When you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises; when you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you want to save are the ones standing on your cape; when your boots will fill with rain, and you'll be up to your knees in disappointment. And those are the very days you have all the more reason to say thank you. Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away. You will put the wind in winsome, lose some. You will put the star in starting over, and over. And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life. And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting, I am pretty damn naive. But I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily, but don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it. "Baby," I'll tell her, "remember, your momma is a worrier, and your poppa is a warrior, and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more." Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things. And always apologize when you've done something wrong. But don't you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining. Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing. And when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war and hatred under your door and offer you handouts on street-corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.

The ending poem always brings tears to my eyes

this video is the reason I got into poetry, and I will always owe her for this

Her whole TED talk is spoken like a poem and its wonderful. Thank you Sarah for putting things into words that I didn't even know I could feel.

She's beautiful...who is she?

She is absolutely phenomenal

Every word she says sounds like poetry

I love how poetic her words are. The audience was terribly quiet, though.

i never get sick of this

Why was the scarecrow called to TED .... Because he was outstanding in his field 🤣🤣🤣

im 24 i nver do poetry but watching hee vdeo mkes me want to learn poetry

This is just beautiful. I will make my Mom watch this.

i love passionate people

I know the sky is blue, my parents love me, and I will die.

the "if i should have a daughter" part made me cry a little

omg so full of energy.. such an inspirational lovely girl.. keep going..

Three things I know to be true about this TED talk: 1. Amazing 2. Uplifting 3. Admiring

I wish my momma was like that.

you are truly inspiring, please come to north Carolina and inspire teens the way you inspired me

Does anyone else come again and again for this poem?or is it just me?

I'm literally crying

Hits harder now that I'm 21 and not 11.

Mesmerizing! Too bad i'm watching this in 2016

i felt your poetry 😊.. impossible things are yet to made possible

She will make every single viewer fall in love with her. Her passion, her voice and so so much positivity and brightness.