PARIS – Comedian and inspirational speaker Jud Laipply made good on his promise to enlighten, entertain and educate his audience.

He appeared in front of about 300 students of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School as the keynote act for Wednesday of Respect Week.

“I use laughter, laughter is cool,” Laipply said. “When you laugh the brain releases endorphins, just the same as chocolate, plus it helps the brain retain information.”

He told the teens that the power of choice was the single greatest gift given to humans.

“Everything in your life is there because of choices you made,” he said.

“That’s not to say we won’t make wrong choices. We’re humans and we’re going to mess up.”

“But what you have to do is learn to take responsibility for the choices you make and move on with your life,” he said.

Laipply said if the teens scoured through history they would find someone who has overcome the same obstacles that they were facing.

He said that teens need to recognize that things are always changing. He pointed out that relationships always change. He said the most successful businesses realize that things are always changing and they accommodate the changes.

“If you take your power of choice and put that together with knowing that life is constantly changing then you can create changes through the choices you make,” Laipply said.

He told students the most important things in their lives were the relationships they had with friends, parents, loved ones and a higher power and that they should explore these relationships.

Laipply said if they asked their parents if there was anything they could do to be a better child he guaranteed the parents would ask what they could do to be better parents.

He also challenged the students to walk up to someone and tell them, “My life is better because you are in it.”



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