Life is Not Fair

In this episode of The Growing Our Future podcast, hosted by Aaron Alejandro with guest Victor Guerra, the conversation delves into the essence of gratitude, resilience, and leadership within the context of agricultural education and personal development.

Aaron and Victor begin by emphasizing the significance of gratitude in daily life, highlighting the importance of acknowledging even the smallest blessings. Victor reflects on his upbringing on a ranch and his journey through the FFA program, underscoring the transformative power of gratitude amidst life's challenges. He shares personal anecdotes, including his aspirations to become a state FFA president and the disappointment of falling short of that goal. However, Victor's resilience shines through as he emphasizes the value of the journey, the lessons learned, and the network built.

The discussion expands to encompass the unique culture and agricultural landscape of South Texas, showcasing the region's spirit and resilience. Through Victor's insights, listeners gain a deeper appreciation for the FFA experience and the enduring impact of embracing gratitude and resilience in pursuit of one's goals.

Story Notes:

•  Creativity and Vision
•  Faith and Belief
•  Resilience and Perseverance
•  Journey to Leadership
•  Resilience and Valuing the Journey
• Competitive Edge

Learn more at MyTexasFFA.org

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. Here's your host, Erin Alejandro.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. I don't know if we've told you lately, but we really like this podcast. We really like bringing it to you. Why? Because we get to meet some of the most incredible leaders in our country and our state, and today is no different. We've got another energetic, proven leader in both the cattle industry and FFA and youth development. We've got attorney rancher. Overall, good guy, victor. Victor, thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 3: 1:07

Well, thank you, Erin, for the opportunity. I've been looking forward to it ever since I got the phone call and certainly appreciate being on to that.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Well, we appreciate you joining us. You know the whole purpose of the Growing Our Future podcast is based around the premise of what I'm always saying. You've heard me say it before. I tell people, if agriculture's taught me anything, it's taught me that if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, to grow it means you got to plant the right seeds and then you got to take care of them, and then one day you might get to harvest that opportunity, and then that harvest may help your family, it may help a community, it may help a state, it may help a country Heck, even in the case of Bill Sarpose, it helped the world. So you never know.

Speaker 2: 1:51

But it all starts with planting the right seeds, which is why you're here today, victor, because we want to hear from you and plant those seeds of greatness That'll make both ag teachers, young people, all better, because we were here today. We start every podcast with the same question, and I love to get my guest on the record talking about what they're grateful for. So, victor, start today by sharing with us what are you grateful for today?

Speaker 3: 2:21

Man. Well, what a great way to start off the podcast for that question, because gratitude is just so important and you know I could be a podcast itself just what I'm grateful for so much here lately I've been trying to be more mindful of just the little things, and so I'm grateful for today. I'm grateful when I'm grateful for my alarm that got me up this morning. I'm grateful that there was coffee in the pot this morning. I'm grateful that it was diesel in my truck. I'm grateful that the gentleman that works with us was ready to come again to work and I'm grateful that we had stock to feed this morning. And certainly grateful for this opportunity to sit here with my partner in ag, aaron Alejandro, and talk agriculture and leadership.

Speaker 3: 3:03

So of all the things I'm grateful for, you know, like I said, I'm just trying to be mindful of maybe the little things that we glance over sometimes, our ability, just the little things, and obviously you got the grandeur of this country, being a citizen of this country and the people that protect it and serve us. So just so much to be grateful for, but grateful for gratitude in itself. I mean it's amazing what gratitude adds to a life and expressing it. You know we live in such a fast pace of sight in these days that sometimes we may not stop and express gratitude as much as we should.

Speaker 2: 3:43

Well, folks, there you go. We can stop right there, we don't need to go any further. That was solid, that right. There is exactly it, by the way, victor, and that we live in such a noisy world, whether it's on the television, whether it's on the computers, on social media, on our phones, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be overwhelming if we don't sometimes stop and pause for the little things, like you just said, and I couldn't agree. I couldn't agree with you more. There is so much to be grateful for the fact that we got air conditioning in South Texas, the fact that we've got warmth, and when I'm up in the winter, in the winter states, you know the, you know where it's colder. I mean, it's little things that are abundant where we live here.

Speaker 2: 4:32

And sometimes we just don't do exactly what you said. And that's just stopping pause. And anyway, thank you for sharing that. I couldn't agree with you more, tom Ziegler. You know, tom, he serves on the FFA Foundation Board and Tom talks about that.

Speaker 2: 4:48

He says you know what is the opposite of gratitude? Well, when you're grateful for something, you're energetic, you're hopeful, you're looking for something good. The opposite of gratitude is entitled and your attitude goes from being hopeful and inspired and looking for something to. That's not fair and that you need to give that to me. And the attitude just changes. And so look at the smile on your face when you started talking about the little things. It's amazing how it can make you feel, how you can start your day, how you Be in relationship with the people around you. So that's why I said Victor, thank you, because you couldn't have started this podcast off any better. No, absolutely Okay. So obviously I've known this, this gentleman and his family, for many, many years and I respect both Victor and his family, and he's successful in his own right. He's successful in the lineage of their, their family. But I can tell you this he didn't just fall into that chair. He's sitting in right there.

Speaker 2: 5:55

Something tells me there was a path that led you to where you're at today. Victor, if you would, would you kind of take us on that path of how you became an attorney and a rancher and you know you're on the board of directors of the American Cimetal Association. Could you kind of walk us through that journey that led you into that seat that you're in?

Speaker 3: 6:18

Oh, you want to get into the good stuff. I like it, but the journey is has been a blessing. Grew up here on the ranch and you know I, you talk about the little things that's I get older and start reflecting. You know I, a lot of my friends were from in town and they lived on, you know, just your typical subdivision or in a typical subdivision, and their life was much different than mine. Whenever I opened up that front door and my big, one of my biggest blessings is that my parents got me up early in the morning. It says time to go to work and that little gesture of just opening up the door and looking out On the ranch and just seeing that opportunity for the day, that might be one thing when I was younger that took for granted from time to time. But now, just seeing how important and how unique it was for me to grow up On a ranch, on a working ranch, and be a part of it, of the family operation, so grew up working on the ranch.

Speaker 3: 7:18

We got a small school out here that goes from kindergarten eighth grade, called Brewster. So I went to, went to school there with the same 15, 20 kids, my the entire time, and then high school was in Big bad, edinburgh North. I went from the tiny little school there, brewster, to Edinburgh North and there was 1500 freshmen In my in my class alone. So that was quite a quite a wake-up call. And that was and it wasn't just a freshman campus, we had all four. So the most important thing for me was knowing where the ag building was and those were the Classes. I had circled on my on my schedule and so got into.

Speaker 3: 7:56

Naturally, growing up on a ranch, ffa and agriculture was a big part of my upbringing so it was a proud FFA member for each as well. Ffa was where I found my passion, so grew up through the FFA program. Despite some very valiant and sometimes I guess you'd call it some hazing from my mom's uncles who were doctors and big Teasippers, as we call them, I was able to make it to Texas A&M University, was the ag development major there with the beef cattle production in the emphasis area, and so graduated from Texas A&M. After A&M I went to work for a couple years there and the legislature also did an internship there at Merrill Lynch and Eventually found my way at St Mary's Law School. It's something my parents always encouraged me to do, even if I wasn't going to be a full-time practicing attorney. They encouraged me to get that degree in that education because they they encouraged me to create as much value for myself as I could Out of all school. I worked at Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, there in the litigation division, and came back to the ranch for a little bit and Eventually became general counsel at a public affairs firm. We lobbied for Variety of clients. It was a small firm based here out of McAllen and there in Austin and then eventually found my way.

Speaker 3: 9:27

Life brought me to the ranch, back to the ranch and After giving the I guess the corporate life and the the big city a Chance, I found myself back here at the ranch. You know one thing I always remember I was living in downtown Austin. I was, you know, there in my late 20s, early 30s, basically in the Mecca for a young man such as myself and I, always growing up on a ranch and just being busy. You always have something planned, but I remember working, the five-day work week and and that eight to five and then on Fridays getting out of work and you know most people would love the opportunity to be downtown Austin for the weekend and I'd always go try to find a Rant you know a cattle client of ours or go visit friends or just on a lam, drive the five hours down to the ranch and be at the Rancher the weekend. So I told myself you know, not wanting to be home on the weekends tells me that that that's not home for me. So I eventually found my way back to the ranch.

Speaker 3: 10:27

I got, I got Along the way there. I got tired of my dad telling me no when I wanted to buy a Heifer or bulls. So I started investing on my own, on my own with some partners, business partners in mind, because my budget wasn't very big. So before I knew it, I Accumulated a herd of my own and so when I came back home I was able to focus more on my herd and then also work with family company. Let me get the cattle company. So that's where I am as as of now. You know I've been blessed with some opportunities to leave, but I Take it day by day and I believe I tell people I jokingly tell people I think I'm gonna go down with the ship, I think I'm, I'm finally home and this is home and it's a blessing, and so I look forward to every single day and and feel like there's not enough hours in the day to do it. So that's home for me. I.

Speaker 2: 11:20

You know, the thing about these interviews, victor, is that I try to tell people that if you'll just listen, there are so many little seeds of greatness that people that listen are going to find them. I'm just telling you there's somebody right now that's experiencing the same thing, that's questioning which direction they want to go with their journey, and a lot of what you said is going to be relatable to where they're at and maybe some of the decisions they make. So thank you for sharing that. One of the things that I would like for you to do real quick, because you know, this goes not only in Texas, it goes nationwide, actually goes out around the world.

Speaker 2: 12:00

It's interesting to see the stats on this podcast over in Europe, how many people watch it in Europe. But for people that don't understand, we say South Texas, can you kind of give people some geography of what that really means when we say South Texas, because a lot of times people say, well, I went to South Texas and I said where'd you go? They said San Antonio. I'm like, no, I don't think you understand, you didn't go to South Texas. So help people understand the geography of like, from Austin to San Antonio, down to McAllen or Brownsville down in the valley, you know, just kind of give them an example of what that really looks like.

Speaker 3: 12:39

Well, I guess you can kind of look at South Texas as a diamond. You got the Rio Grande Valley at the bottom, you've got Laredo to the west, you've got Corpus Christi to the east and then San Antonio to the north. That's kind of the diamond there. I know it covers more that our area in terms of FFA covers more of it to the either direction, whichever direction that you're in. But for us we're down in the southern tip where the lens, where I grew up, and we're approximately all 40 miles or so from the border. Right there Renosa would be our closest city to us down there on the border.

Speaker 3: 13:12

So when we say South Texas, we mean South Texas and we're way down the deeper we're about. We're right off highway 281 and a lot of people don't know this. But 281 will take you from down to Mexico all the way up to Canada on the same highway, and so you know 281 takes you all the way through that finest establishment old Tarleton there and Stephenville and so many other cool places Torms hamburgers there, lampasas it's a great highway. So I grew up, that's the street I live on. I always get a kick out of people telling me what street did you grow up on, and I put 281 because we're literally right off 281, 15 miles north of Edinburgh, and so that's, that's our little little part of South Texas.

Speaker 2: 13:56

And for the listeners let me say this you know I grew up in the Dallas Fort Worth area before getting sent to Cal Farlies Boys Ranch up in the Texas Panhandle, and then I went to Lubbock to Texas Tech University. I had only been to San Antonio once and that was when I went to an FFA convention and a stock show there as a boys rancher. But you know, the one thing I never forgot was when I was state FFA president and I got to travel down into the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and I got to experience a part of Texas and people and a culture that you know. Texas is so unique, victor, and I know you know this, from East Texas to Southeast Texas, to the Texas Panhandle.

Speaker 2: 14:37

But I really want to brag on the people of South Texas. There is just something special about South Texas. We have a group of teachers that we take on these lead experiences and we take them all over the state of Texas and we've had teachers that have been on several of them. They've been all over the state and all of them everybody says the same thing. There's just something special about South Texas and, victor, I think your smile, your demeanor, the way you share with such authenticity and ingenuous, your family, your heritage, where you live I live on 281. That just speaks volumes to when we talk about that South Texas culture. That's what we're talking about right there.

Speaker 3: 15:17

Yeah, no, branding is just so important. And you know, when I show gratitude, you know I give them thanks for the community, for the county, for the city that surround us and the state. But you know, texas is just so popular and one of the most popular areas in the world. When people think United States they think Texas. We're so blessed. But within that subset of Texas, I have to agree with you, South Texas is a brand, it's a way of life, and I always get a big kick out of people, you know, saying they've got the South Texas State Fair there in Beaumont, you know, and people arguing that San Antonio isn't South Texas. You know, south Texas is a way of life, you know, and so if people want to claim it, more power to them. And so we're blessed down here to be in the big, wide, open spaces of South Texas.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Well, and there's a week we could do a whole podcast just on that. Right there, Victor, all the agriculture that's in South Texas. A lot of people don't realize just the scope of agriculture. I've always been impressed, every time I'm there, just how engaged the kids are. I've been, I've been doing this since 1980. Ffa I've been a state president all over, the state state foundation director 24 years. In February I've been all over and I got to tell you probably the most patriotic FFA banquet that ever went to was right down there in the Rio Grande Valley. So there's just a, it's just amazing. I just wanted to brag on y'all for just a second, Victor, because you and your, your spirit is an example of why South Texas is got that little brand, that little new brand.

Speaker 3: 17:01

And you hit the nail right there. You led me to something else. I talked about that diamond earlier. What makes that diamond so special is in the heart of that diamond, around those big rural or urban areas is is agriculture. That's all agriculture right there, and so I think that's what makes South Texas so unique right there. It's just how much agriculture there is in that diamond right there.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Victor, I know that you went through the FFA program. You participated, you were active LDE, CDEs, SAEs. You did all that. There's a there's a part of your story, though, and I don't want to necessarily get into the nitty gritty of it, but there's something I admire out of your story, and out of your story and your journey in the FFA, your participation you learned some resiliency. Some things didn't just go your way. You know some ambitions that you had, but the thing I've always appreciated about you is you've never let that derail your why, and your why is because it's important to the kids that are going to follow in our footsteps. And so I was wondering if maybe you could share with us a little bit about, maybe, your FFA activity and how you might have not achieved everything that you wanted to achieve, but it never drowned, it never through cold water on your want to give back to the organization.

Speaker 3: 18:21

No, absolutely. I'd be happy to share it and appreciate you giving me the opportunity to do it. You know I talked about getting older and reflecting back and Erin you and I visited some about this. Perhaps probably the most valuable takeaway that I got from my FFA experience is that life is not fair, and I'll have to expand on that when I tell you that the Ag building was so important to me.

Speaker 3: 18:48

I had the blessing of listening to Tanesa Sadoff, state president. She came and spoke at our chapter banquet and I just remember I said, man, I want to be state FFA president Monday. And then I went to convention and I heard this talent team from area three play the Toties, one of my favorite alternative music songs. Back in the day I said, man, I want to win the talent contest. And early on my freshman year they just set me on a path and I dedicated myself fully to that path, you know, and along the way I was blessed to, you know, sit in chapter conducting practices and contests and have that awkward moment of silence and then also, you know, be on a team that was chapter conducting team that was clicking and did a great job. I was blessed to have two wonderful Ag teachers that genuinely cared about my success and didn't limit me. You know I was on a livestock judging team and along the way I guess I fell in love with service to membership.

Speaker 3: 19:56

And so serve as a green hand officer, a chapter officer. I wasn't a district officer, but I was an air. I ended up being an area officer and I'll never forget being elected first vice president of area 10 and being in the FFA truck on my way back and looking out the window and saying, oh, my goodness, what have I done? You know, I'm the first vice president of area 10. And it was just a byproduct of keeping my head down and working hard and building my network and pursuing my passion and I found myself there. So I took that opportunity and I just made it my goal to be the best area officer I was in. All the while, in the background, I still had that goal of becoming state FFA president. So I had one of the best years of my life. It took me to made for excellence in Austin. It took me to Washington Leadership Conference and Washington DC National FFA convention in Kansas City.

Speaker 3: 20:49

Back then, aging myself a little bit, I was able to go speak at so many different banquets and camps and things of that regard and it all culminated into the moment of truth right there in Kingsville, texas. And I'll never forget the announcement whenever they they announced the winner and it wasn't me and I really felt that I did everything that I possibly could, executed my speech. Answer questions had a great year network. I mean, I went everywhere and it wasn't in the chips. And so I remember riding back. I remember riding back from that deal with my old man. My old man would let me drive home and looking out and he said well, son, it's time to regroup your work on their answer summer and go to Texas A&M. And you know the challenge there nowadays. I didn't have that challenge back then, but you know, when we lose, it's to become a victim. You know to say that I was wronged and things of that nature. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you like a flip of a switch it all came into fruition.

Speaker 3: 21:54

But the one thing that I realized because it took me a while as I processed all that, and even God as silly as not wanting to go back to Kingsville and now it's one of my most favorite cities to visit on Kingsville, but you know I realized that it wasn't the FFA. You know the FFA didn't choose me, I chose the FFA. And life isn't perfect. Life isn't fair. We live in the land of the free, not the land of the fair. It wasn't part of my, wasn't part of my journey then, and the good Lord was simply rerouting me to service within this organization as a FFA Foundation member.

Speaker 3: 22:31

So looking back, you know, looking back on that, that was just such a pivotal moment in my life because, you know, at that very moment when they made that announcement, I was focused on what I didn't have and not what I had. And what I had was that journey. I wasn't putting value in my journey. And I tell you what I wouldn't trade my FFA journey for anything, regardless of the end result of falling short of my goal. Because if I just sit and look back of all the wonderful things that I was able to do through the FFA, all the opportunities, the network that I built, I mean it was just invaluable.

Speaker 3: 23:07

I couldn't have found that anywhere else in athletics. I couldn't have found it in any other organization. I couldn't have found it anywhere else than the FFA. So I was so grateful for that and I was so grateful that I didn't shut it down when I didn't get what I wanted out of it, that I didn't get the FFA down and I've had the opportunity to serve it Not only here, through our company at La Mugneca, but more importantly as a member of the FFA Board of Directors here at the Foundation.

Speaker 2: 23:36

I've known several people, victor, that have been in that same spot, that have had similar challenges in life. I've heard people unfortunately do exactly what you say Somebody else's fault wasn't fair or some other reason, a victim of something. In spite of what a lot of people think about, when they think that I've had a lot of successes, I've also had failures. There were times where you sit there, like you said, you do have to that moment of reflection, but you have to, at that point, weigh what is there more to be grateful for than to be angry about? Is there more gratefulness and more opportunity ahead, or was that really? The best is left behind you now, and you just articulated all of that so beautifully.

Speaker 2: 24:28

I hope that and I know people from across this country will hear this podcast and I hope it gets played in front of a lot of FFA members because, victor, you've said more eloquently the FFA journey than a lot of national officers, a lot of state officers, and you never carry the title, but you didn't have to carry the title to be exceptional. You're exceptional because you're grateful for the experience and your willingness to share. That. That's the real mark of a strong ethical leader. So thank you so much for sharing that. I didn't mean to put you on the spot with that question, but I wanted to hear it because I know there's going to be other people out there that are going to feel defeated sometimes and are going to feel like they didn't achieve their goal and I'm like that's not just that, it's not over with.

Speaker 3: 25:22

No doubt yeah, and if I can, I just want to share a couple of things. I talked about the little things this morning, like coffee in the pot and the diesel in the pickup truck. There's a couple things that I'll never forget. Through our membership with the Texas Senate Falsenberg Association, I got exposed to a gentleman by the name of Dr Joe Prudhomme who taught me at an early age there in high school, that one of the most important things that he could pass on to me was keeping your composure, regardless of what you're doing and who you're dealing with. To keep your composure and I remember being elevated on that stage, coming up to that point, all the momentum I had and the great times I had through the FFA just came crumbling down. I'll never forget, and it's back then. It was a little thing, but it's so big and something that I'll never forget because I walked down those stairs dejected, focused on what I didn't have.

Speaker 3: 26:20

Chauncey Kintanaya and Crystal Stewart from the Tilden FFA chapter invited me, of all people, to go speak at their banquet in about two to three weeks, and at that time I was thinking to myself what you want me? You want me to go speak at your banquet, but I'll tell you what that opportunity lifted me up so much in that one little moment and, like I said, I was so focused on what I didn't have and if I just looked at what I had and so I'll encourage anyone that's going through that value the journey. Think about what you experienced, what you gained, how you grew to that point, regardless of the end result, if you dedicated everything you possibly could have, and sometimes the results not in our control. But just don't lose sight and value the journey.

Speaker 2: 27:14

That's good stuff, victor. Thank you. I really do hope people gravitate and watch this podcast. We'll definitely be promoting it because there's just incredible wisdom in what you've shared and seeds that can grow a beautiful life, by the way, if you just plant some of what you just shared, victor. The state of Texas there's over 3,000 high schools in the state of Texas and they're all going to have a graduating class. I mean, everybody's going to get out of school. They're going to be looking for a job, a scholarship or an opportunity. So always ask the kids what's your competitive edge? What separates you from somebody else? Why do I give you a job? Why do I give you a scholarship? Why do I give you an opportunity? What's your competitive edge, victor? If you were coaching kids today and you could tell them here are three things that you can do that'll give you a competitive edge what would you tell them?

Speaker 3: 28:10

Well, we've been talking reflection throughout this whole time and I look back and sometimes I laugh through my leadership experiences as a student. I remember going to places and getting asked if you're a leader, raise your hand and looking back on that, I guess the humor for me is that there's actually people that think that they're not a leader, but in fact we are a nation of presidents and CEOs. Every single person is a chairman. If nothing else, they're the leader of their legacy. And so I guess there's three things that I was blessed to be taught by my parent and my family and then, later on in life, having key teachers and my ag teacher, or Mr Vela and Mr LaVenia, had a big role and kind of cementing that. I guess my three takeaways in terms of having a creative or a competitive edge is, as the leadership of your legacy is, to be creative and determine what your mission and purpose is going to be, and after that, establishing faith in that creative mission or purpose that you have made for yourself. And when I talk faith, we can sit here and talk all day long about religion and obviously, if you see the background, I'm blessed to be a Christian and try to do my best in that. But equally as important is having faith in yourself, having faith in your abilities, having faith in karma, having faith in that If you, if you put in the time and effort, that you will one day get what's yours and sometimes it may not be that state FFA election, it may not be that internship or that particular job or that particular person, but just continue to have faith in yourself and so that's that's one thing I would tell them. And to wear that, to wear that faith confidently. The next big one is working. You simply have to, and that's that's probably one of the aside for my faith. That's one of the things that I was blessed to be forced into because, trust me, my professional video game career interfered with my parents making me work. I was going to be a, I was going to be a gamer and all my friends were gamers and slept till noon and I didn't know why I had to wake up at six, six, 30 and go work on the ranch. I tell you what I challenged it, but I'm so blessed my parents were. They were the resilient ones. I'm so blessed that they gave me a work ethic.

Speaker 3: 31:05

So once you're, you get creative and create that mission and purpose and have faith in it, work towards it as much as you can. You have to be a person of action. Get out there and work, don't tell people, show people. Be a person of action. And then, lastly, we have to have a sense of community. The only thing that my parents always gave me is having a sense of community, that life is bigger than oneself. So we have to, we have to serve others, we have to be helpful, we have to be a part of the solution, not the problem. Be a lifter, lift people up, and just having that sense of community. And so if we could put that creativity, that that showing people that we have a purpose, that we have drive and then we have faith in it. We have to be a part of ourselves and that we have a work ethic and also being a part of a team, being having a sense of community.

Speaker 3: 32:01

And all three of those things, as I mentioned, were practice in the FFA. Those, those, those three traits were my takeaways and the FFA cemented that for me, because I'm sure, as a parent, you can appreciate that sometimes kids have to hear it from somebody else. I heard it from my teachers, I heard it from so many people and was so blessed to have that cemented in the FFA. You know, one of my favorite things in the FFA is the little stall cards.

Speaker 3: 32:34

If you're blessed to have a livestock project or a shop project or even an FFA jacket, I love those little stall cards that have your name, where you're from, you know your breeder of the animal that you're showing or you know the details of your project. But the most important thing on that little stall card and it may be a tiny little card, but your name being behind that project is a very, very big thing. It's a very big thing to me. And so that's your competitive edge. Like I said earlier, don't tell people, show people. So whenever I look down at that barbecue pit that you built or that lamb that you're showing or the steer that you're showing, you can tell people a lot about what you do, how you exhibit, how you handle yourself, your showmanship. That's your competitive edge.

Speaker 2: 33:25

Victor, you're inspiring. Your vision, your compassion, your authenticity is contagious. By the way, I'm very proud of you. By the way, again, I've lived a blessed life and I've got to see a lot of people that have really taken advantage of their opportunities. I've also seen people that I knew that they were probably capable of more Dr Justin Ransom. I've watched Dr Justin Ransom go through a similar FFA experience, victor, and look at where he's at today, look at what he's accomplishing today, and I look at what you're doing today, and not only the fact that you've done it, but you're pouring that into others.

Speaker 2: 34:06

And what do we always talk about in our ambassador program? We always say that the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you will never sit. Think of all the trees that your family's planted, victor. That's incredible. Think of all the trees that you're planting. And then you water them and you nurture them and you encourage them and you grow them, and they're going to grow into strong individuals one day, individuals that may become my granddaughter's doctor, individuals that become my grandson's teacher. They're their president, whatever it may be. So I just want you to know, as a former FFA member, parent, grandparent, I just want you to hear how much I appreciate your willingness to share your journey. Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 34:58

Absolutely, it's my pleasure.

Speaker 2: 35:01

Well, we're going to wrap this up. Like I said, we could probably just go on and on and on, but we're going to wrap up, we're going to post. So everybody knows this is Victor Guerra from La Mancha Cattle Company. A tourney down in South Texas will put all that, so you'll have all that in our links and everything about this show. Victor, thank you for taking time out today. I know that there's a lot to do and we all live busy lives and so, carving out a little time to share with others Again, I think that's how we grow a better future. So I appreciate you. By the way, everybody gets one last fun question. So the fun question is this Victor, what's the best concert you've ever been to?

Speaker 3: 35:41

Oh, man, gosh, so many. So music is one of my passions, it's one of my hobbies. I listed as a hobby, so, gosh, there's so many good ones. I'm going to have to probably say the Rolling Stones, and which was the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Now it's a bank center, and I'll tell you why. Music is great. But to see a group of individuals, a team, so to say, sustain that level of excellence and for those of you all that are aging, have the ability to age or the blessing to age, the energy that group has to do it for so long, and then now, at this age, to be on stage moving like that for three hours, and for the music lovers out there, the acoustics in that Frost Bank Center are unbelievable, because Coldplay was another moving experience there and that same building was just amazing. So, yeah, that's probably be my favorite one, because just seeing the group and what they represent is amazing.

Speaker 2: 36:46

I'm a little jealous, by the way. There's about three or four groups that were on my list that as a look back and I kicked myself for not doing it because I could have. I wanted to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and I didn't do that. I'm with you on that one. I kicked myself for missing that one. I had an opportunity to see you too and I kicked myself for missing that one. And then the Rolling Stones was another one and I kind of kicked myself for missing them at certain points in their career, to your point, and that's awesome. Thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 3: 37:21

Well, my uncle Ronnie took me to the Rolling Stones. He just got back from Vegas and watched you two at the sphere. He said they're wrong. So yeah, well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 37:35

If.

Speaker 3: 37:35

I could real quick. I want to thank you for giving so many of us this opportunity to be on this podcast. I think it's great. You mentioned earlier about. You know we're all busy. I really appreciate opportunities like this to stop what I'm doing and get on a podcast or go judge a stock show. I place a little bit of value in that and I think I take it as a it's an honor. It's an honor for me. You know, as we get older, there's no star chapter, farmer or anything like that for the most part. So this you have in the on here is an honor for me and one that we appreciate and value, this time with you, and I want to thank you for all that you're doing for the FFA and have done for the FFA and will do so. I appreciate it, brother. Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 2: 38:23

All right, everybody. Thank you for joining us for another episode of growing our future. Like we say, you know, if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, this is an example of somebody that's planting great seeds. I mean, listen to the wisdom that was shared today. There's got to be somebody listening today, that heard something that Victor said, that they say you know what he's right. I'm going to put that in place in my life, that sense of community, that sense of faith, that willingness to lead, and I guarantee you somebody is going to do it today and, as a result, our families, our homes, our neighborhoods, our state, our country are going to be better because of it. So thanks again, victor, and thanks everybody for stopping by until we meet again. Everybody, go out and do something great for somebody. You're going to feel good about it and America is going to be better because of it. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1: 39:23

We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the growing, our future podcast. This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen agricultural science education so students can develop their potential for personal growth, career success and leadership in a global marketplace. Learn more at mytexasffaorg.